Planting guide

When to plant rocket

Peppery salad leaves that sprout in days; sow little and often. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Seed, sown in place
Ready in: 4–6 wks
Spacing: 10 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means rocket can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Perth	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Toowoomba	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Coffs Harbour	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Alice Springs	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Mildura	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Port Macquarie	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mumbai	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Paris	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○

How to plant rocket

Scatter seed on moist soil and cover lightly.
Keep it watered and out of hot sun.
Cut leaves when 8 cm long.
Sow again every 3 weeks.

Rocket varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Salad RocketClassicfast · mild · 4–6 wksQuick, mild-peppery leaves for the salad bowl
Wild RocketClassichot · slow-bolting · 5–8 wksSpicy, deeply cut leaves; perennial in mild climates
AstroClassicslow-bolting · 4–6 wksSmooth leaves with good bolt resistance
Wasabi RocketAdventuroushot · colourful · 4–6 wksPeppery heat reminiscent of wasabi

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Lettuce, Carrot, Pea

Rocket by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lettuce · Spinach · Silverbeet · Kale · Bok Choy · Celery

Not sure rocket is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →