Turn 1 Arugula Plant into 100 Arugula Plants for Free

An arugula plant's time in your garden is fleeting. It's always disappointing when you notice your arugula is beginning to bolt (or go to seed) since it signals the end of those delicious, spicy leaves. Mourn the loss of your homegrown salads, but keep in mind that you're about to get something else: arugula flowers—which are not only edible but considered a delicacy—and then arugula seeds!

Think of seed formation as the natural progression in the short life cycle of an arugula plant. Instead of ripping up your arugula plants once they're no longer giving you tasty leaves, you can let them go to seed. Once the seed pods form, you can collect them and save them.

And that's how you end up with hundreds of seeds from just one arugula plant. Free seeds for next season!

Let's look at how to save your own arugula seeds.

When Do Arugula Plants Go to Seed?

Arugula grows best in cool weather. You can continue to grow arugula well into warm and even hot weather, but your plants won't last very long, especially if it's dry. Instead of giving you weeks and weeks of tasty leaves, your plants will get stressed out and decide their time in your garden is coming to an end.

That means your plants will begin focusing all their energy on producing seeds—little promises that copies of your arugula plant will exist even after it dies. Your arugula plants will send up a tall central stalk that can eventually grow several feet tall. Pretty little white or yellow arugula flowers come next, followed by the seed pods.

You can delay bolting for as long as possible by harvesting from your plants often, giving your plants some shade or covering them with shade cloth on hot days, and watering your plants consistently. In the picture below, you can see some arugula plants just beginning to go to seed.

Can You Still Eat Bolting Arugula?

Once your plant is going to seed, you may find the taste of the leaves a little too bitter. The leaves are still edible per se, so it's really a matter of your personal preference at this point. You can pull the plants to make room for something that will grow in warmer weather or keep the plants for seed saving.

Don't forget the arugula flowers are 100 percent edible. They have the same peppery flavor as the leaves. Toss them on top of your salads or use them as a pretty little garnish. (Or toss them over your shoulder and take a fun gardening pic!)

Step One

Pick Your Favorite Arugula Plants

You only want to save seeds from plants with the most desirable qualities. So not the plants that were the first to bolt in the heat or the plants that suffered major pest issues. But if the leaves from one plant were particularly tasty, you definitely want to save those seeds.

What's really cool is that over time, you can select for plants that are better and better adapted to the precise growing conditions in your garden space.

Free up some space in your garden by removing the plants that you won't be saving seeds from. The best way to remove them is by cutting them right at the base rather than yanking them up, roots and all. Compost these plants as long as they're not showing major signs of pests or disease.

Step Two

Protect the Arugula Flowers as They Form

You don't really have to do anything for this step except leave your favorite arugula plants in the vegetable garden while they go to seed. Bonus: The arugula flowers forming on your plants will attract tons of beneficial insects to your garden just as your fruiting plants need pollination.

Arugula flowers self pollinate (meaning you don't need beneficial insects to come visiting), but it is possible for them to cross pollinate if you have another arugula variety growing nearby and flowering at the same time. To prevent cross pollination, you can place small mesh bags (think those little organza bags you store jewelry in) around the flowers.

Step Three

Collect the Arugula Seeds

Over the next couple of weeks, your plants will begin forming little green seed pods shaped like super skinny peas. Wait until these pods are dry and brown before you cut them from the plant with pruners or scissors. (You can also just leave these pods to drop naturally into your garden beds if you're not picky about where plants pop up next year.)

Place the seed pods in a paper bag and give them another week or so to completely dry indoors (to prevent mold and mildew issues later). Once the seed pods are fully dry, they're really easy to pop open. Separate the tiny black seeds from the pods and remove any chaff (debris from the dead plant).

Just one arugula plant typically forms dozens of pods, and each pod contains about 10 seeds inside. So it's no exaggeration to say you can turn one plant into 100! You're looking at a pretty large supply of arugula seeds for next season.

How to Store Arugula Seeds Saved from Your Garden

Store your collected arugula seeds in a paper sack, a jar, or an envelope. (Don't forget to label it with the date collected.) Your seeds can remain viable up to six years if you store them properly (that means protecting them from heat, direct sunlight, and moisture to prevent things like mold and premature sprouting).

Time to Save Your Own Arugula Seeds

Seed saving is the silver lining when your plants are no longer producing delicious leaves for you to harvest. So next time you notice your plants bolting, let a couple of them stay in the garden and watch them do their thing.

Download our free Garden Calendar to learn the best time to plant arugula in your garden next year. If you want to branch out a bit, learn more about growing other leafy greens like mizuna, mustard greens, or malabar spinach.

Thanks for bringing back the kitchen garden with me one bolting arugula plant at a time!