| Arugula
(Eruca vesicaria) - Type: cool season annual
- Planting time: early spring, fall
- Features: peppery, mustard-flavored leaves
- Height: 6 to 12 inches
- Light: full sun
- Soil: fertile, moist, but well drained
- Spacing: 12 to 18 inches
- Garden use: in vegetable and herb gardens
- Culinary use: salads and cooked greens
Long popular in France and Italy, the leaves of arugula provide a spicy zap when added to a salad. You can also sauté or steam them like spinach or other leafy greens. Plants look a little like a dandelion, but more open. Leaves grow best in cool weather. Leafy plants grow 6 to 12 inches tall while in the harvest stage. Once they bolt in late spring or early summer, the bloom stalks may grow 24 to 36 inches with white flowers on top, which signals that it is time to make room for warm-weather crops. However, some gardeners continue to harvest the leaves even from the tall plants, liking the stronger taste. You can even cut them back and pick some more until you finally tire of that and then pull them up and wait until fall to plant again.
Nutritional Information  Many researchers have labeled this peppery-tasting green a superfood for your bones. The leaves are “nutrient dense” and low in calories. They are especially high in vitamins A, C, and K. Arugula is lower than some greens, such as spinach, in oxalates, which can inhibit mineral absorption, thus making the calcium in the leaves more available. And arugula also has significant amounts of phytonutrients that promote eye health and help the body’s detoxification systems.
1 cup arugula: - Calories: 4
- Carbohydrates: 1 grams
- Dietary Fiber: .5 grams
- Protein: .6 grams
- Vitamin A: 10% DV
- Vitamin C: 4%
- Vitamin K: 28%
- Folate: 4%
- Calcium: 4%
- Manganese: 4%
- Iron: 2%
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