My favorite leafy green of all time is arugula – a member of the family of cruciferous vegetables which also includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, watercress and kale, just to name a few.  Eating cruciferous vegetables is one of the best ways to prevent cancer at the cellular level.  I was delighted to learn this when I read Foods to Fight Cancer recently.  In the book the authors explain that to reap the most cancer-fighting properties of these vegetables you must not boil them or heat them too much.  They should be lightly cooked at most.  I love arugula salad so I will mostly eat it raw with a dressing of some balsamic vinaigrette, lemon, shallots, olive oil and salt and pepper.

I have been obsessed with finding and eating arugula this summer and finally came to the conclusion that the best way to have a steady supply of the freshest arugula is to grow it.  Duh!  I got the idea from a gardening show to use a galvanized steel trough as the planter for my arugula.

Galvanized Steel Trough

I really wanted a planter with some height to keep the neighborhood cats and dogs from peeing in my greens, as well as a no maintenance type of raised bed.  Without driving at least an hour to go to a feed store, it wasn’t easy to find one but I finally found a nursery that ordered one for me.

They even drilled holes in the bottom for drainage so that when I got it home it would be completely ready to go.

Galvanized Steel Trough with Drainage Holes

Since it’s already almost mid-September I decided to get starts instead of starting the arugula from seed.

Arugula Starts

While I was shopping for the arugula starts I couldn’t resist getting some lettuce starts too.  YUM!

“Forellenschluss” or Troutsback Romaine Lettuce

Because of the exposure and configuration of the lot my house is on, when spring comes around again I will probably have to plant something in my trough that can take the heat. Arugula is unlikely to bolt during this cool season, but placing the planter where it will get plenty of sun means its location in summer will be too hot for greens.   Maybe I’ll do chili peppers next year. It’s easy to be fickle in the garden.