Arugula is a salad green that adds a punch of peppery spice to salads. It's also surprisingly delicious cooked. While you may think it's difficult to grow simply for the fact that the word "gourmet" is often associated with it, arugula is quite easy to grow in home gardens, raised beds and even in containers. There are two different groups of arugulas available to gardeners. The first are commonly called "wild arugula". These arugulas are members of the Diplotaxis genus. They are fast-growing, intensely flavored species. One of the most popular arugula cultivars "Wasabi" is a wild arugula. The second group of arugulas gardeners can grow are the salad arugulas in the Eruca genus. Also early maturing, their flavor is a little less pungent than the wild arugulas, but don't let that fool you. Some salad arugula species and cultivars still have a powerful peppery punch. No matter which group you decide to grow (why not grow both!), arugulas are fast-maturing, requiring just 30 to 40 days to reach maturity from seed. They are cool-season crops, which means it's best to grow them in the early spring and then again in the autumn. Arugula is highly tolerant of frost and is often the first harvest of the season from my garden, even producing before the radishes are ready. To grow arugula, sow seeds in the late winter or early spring. Or, if you're growing a fall crop, head to the garden in mid-September to sow seeds. Seeds should be covered with about a ¼-inch of garden soil. If you plan to harvest your arugula crop as cut-and-come-again baby greens, sow the seeds into a thick bed. But, if you want them to form loose heads of larger leaves and harvest each plant only once, thin the seedlings so they're 3 to 4 inches apart. Spring-planted arugula will quickly bolt (go to flower) when the days lengthen and hot weather arrives. The tiny white flowers are edible and attractive to pollinators, but the bolting process alters the flavor of the leaves, rendering them too bitter for most gardeners to enjoy. At that point, either pull up the plants and compost them, or allow the seed pods to mature and drop seeds. These seeds will then sit on the soil until the weather cools again and they're ready to germinate. This is a great way to have a natural succession of arugula in your garden. Seeds that drop in the autumn will sit in the soil all winter long and germinate first thing in the spring. Cross-pollination may occur if you're growing multiple varieties, but if you only grow a single variety of arugula, the flavor will be constant between generations. Gardeners can harvest arugula a few leaves at a time, using a pair of sharp scissors, or you can harvest the entire rosette of leaves using a sharp knife to sever the shoot system from the roots. Arugula is an excellent crop to grow in containers if you have limited growing space. Choose a wide, shallow bowl for planting. Whether you grow in the ground or in containers, here in Pennsylvania, start sowing seeds in early March and continue to sow a handful of seeds every two weeks until early May for a continual harvest. Horticulturist Jessica Walliser is the author of several gardening books, including "Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden,” "Good Bug, Bad Bug,” and her newest title, "Container Gardening Complete.” Her website is jessicawalliser.com. Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 622 Cabin Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601.