[hubballi]

All this season I have been trying to grow Rocket. I sew it in a container of fresh compost and watch the new shoots come up very healthy. Then when they get to about an inch tall the leaf tops go pale and shrivel despite NOT over watering or underwatering. This has happened  in various containers, compost all the time.

[viettaclark]

Have you tried different seed?
I must admit my rocket is usually a failure. I think I sow too much and they overcrowd and die.
I've just sown some more outside because I think they prefer to be a bit cool like corriander and lettuce but will need covering when it gets too nippy.

[Growster...]

We have to sow ours in the autumn too. Somehow, it seems to fail any time before the cooler days.

[marimba]

I’m glad other people can’t grow rocket. I can’t either and have tried pots, ordinary earth, and have them now in a cold frame! Also tried different seed producers.

By the way.  Radishes are never up to much. Flea beetles, nibbled by slugs, or they crack...but there were good flowers  (and later pods)!

[Alastair-I]

I can recommend wild rocket.. I imagine a lot of people pull it out as a weed without realising what it is (except for thinking, "That smell reminds me of something", as they pull it up).  More peppery than the regular cultivated rocket, you don't need very much to get the flavour into a salad or sandwich.  It's something just appears in our borders, we either leave it where it is or transplant it.

[hubballi]

So I'm not on my own then  It's in a pot in the greenhouse but it's not hot weather anymore. Perhaps it's still too warm. I will sew some outside and see.

[cooperman]

hmmm i seem to do ok with both sorts, my method?
It doesnt germinate well in June/July, too hot, if it does it usually runs to seed quickly.
I plant mine in John Innes No3 rather than ordinary potting compost.
Water the compost well before sowing the seed, which I sprinkle thinly on the top and only cover with fine vermiculite (remember you can get two grades of vermiculite, coarse & fine)
keep well watered at all times and do not allow to dry out at any stage VERY IMPORTANT.
Finally always use fresh seed, I have found that last seasons leftovers do not germinate very well even tho it is in date, so fresh seed is the order of the day. Hope that helps.

PS. My favorite herb is French Tarragon, I use it a lot of all sorts of things. I also make Tarragon Vinegar.....

[hubballi]

Nope, cooler weather grown in compost in pots in greenhouse. get so far, go whiteish and whispy and die. Growing Rocket is Rocket science. 

[Ice]

I can't grow it either, if you ever discover the secret please let me know.

[mumofstig]

There's no secret - just rake a packet of seed into the soil in an odd corner of the garden, that gets some sun but isn't bone dry, and leave it there forever.

It comes up whenever it decides the temperature & conditions are right for it, usually spring and autumn, and if you let it self seed and you will never be without it

[Stoatus]

I can't stop growing rocket at home. It's everywhere: flower borders, cracks in the pavement, in the lawn, everywhere.

Can't grow it on my allotment though.

[Ice]

So it thrives on neglect then.

[asd1]

With my rocket I just get a cheep/ free packet of seed sow in cheep compost in about April time in a propagator till it shoots then out into the plastic grow house for a week before finally outside. Keep thinning all the time as I always plant too much, harvest until august 

[Ice]

No problem getting it to grow it just bolts at the first opportunity.

[mumofstig]

It tends to do that in spring, but will germinate in autumn and last longer then, I find.

It comes up in the greenhouse every autumn, from seeds first sown in spring 4 years ago that bolted during the first summer