Monty Don: ‘Perfect’ time to plant early salad leaves including rocket – ‘maximum harvest’

Monty Don explains how to plant early salad leaves

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Many Britons choose to grow their own produce for a number of reasons, including having fresh vegetables on their doorstep. There are a number of crops which can be sown in spring, including rocket. Monty Don showed viewers how to plant rocket in tonight’s episode of Gardeners’ World where he explained that there is usually a two week window when rocket is perfect to plant.

Rocket is an easy to grow crop which adds a peppery flavour to salads and dishes.

Young leaves tend to be added to salads, while more mature leaves are used as a spinach substitute and added to sauces.

The salad leaf loves to be grown in rich, fertile soil and can be grown in containers.

Monty explained: “I want to use this slot to grow some early salad leaves that will grow fast.

“For example, rocket. This grows best in spring and again in autumn.

“What we try to do is plant some indoors and some outdoors and the indoor crop will grow much faster.

“I grow them in plugs and you can see the roots which means it’s ready for planting.

“If the roots are wrapped around the plug, then that’s no good, it’s too late.

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“There’s usually about a two week window when these are perfect to plant.”

Monty explained that gardeners can buy rocket plugs from garden centres or online.

He said: “If you are planting outside, give them a bit of protection. You can still get a lot of cold weather, a cloche is ideal, fleece over the top that will help.

“It will all just bring them on because what we want is fast growth.

“You can see that I’ve spaced these quite far apart because that will encourage a good root system.

“If you have a good root system, you will get more leaves and you’ll have healthier plants.

“I’ll water these well and keep them watered well, rocket responds well to lots of moisture.

“The key to making the most of your ground, it doesn’t make a difference if you have a big greenhouse or just one container or a patch outside is to plan ahead.

“When you’re planting one thing, sow another and then there will be succession.

“That way, you will have maximum harvest.”

Rocket can provide pickings from early summer through autumn and into winter, if repeat sowings are made.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said: “You can start harvesting the leaves from about four weeks after sowing.

“Regular picking keeps growth young, tender and tasty.

“Pick a few leaves from each plant along the row. If you take lots of leaves from just one plant, you’ll weaken the growth.

“As flower buds appear, pinch them out to prolong cropping, unless you want the plant to produce seeds. The flowers are edible and can be used as a garnish for salads.”

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