My problem:

I want to save the seeds from an arugula plant in my vegetable garden but seem to be having a problem finding the right information on how to go about doing so.

The history:

One of the radish seeds that I planted in early December turned out to be something bigger and taller than the others, which grew into perfectly normal radishes. Being the novice, but resourceful, gardener that I am, I checked out pictures in my Burpee catalog and on the internet for possible suspects, and I came to the conclusion that this non-radish, impostor was arugula. But then the leaves started getting REALLY big and, owning up to my inexperience in vegetable gardening (first season ever!), I began to doubt whether it really was arugula, but decided to wait and see what happened next. Soon afterward, small clusters of tiny, green flower buds began appearing, and I thought it kind of looked like it could be the beginnings of broccoli. So I dutifully looked up both broccoli and broccoli rabe and figured it had to be one of those two, probably broccoli rabe. Then one day the little green flower buds began to bloom. I didn�t think that was supposed to happen so soon, so I consulted the internet again and saw that these flowers looked nothing like those of the broccoli cousins. Going back to my original suspicion, I looked up arugula flowers, and BINGO! I have arugula!

Since I didn�t buy arugula seeds, I decided it would be a good idea to allow this plant to flower and seed so I could collect the seeds for next fall. Logically, I did some research on the internet regarding seed-harvesting of arugula and collected some great information. Since I can�t not water the arugula (because in not doing so I would also not be watering the carrots and beets that I�m still harvesting, the celery that is still growing and the eggplant that is just now *crossing fingers* looking like it might set fruit), I decided I should just let it grow and just pull it when it starts to die out. That has been my plan until about a week or so ago.

So now that it�s recently been getting VERY hot down here (10b), I noted how this arugula is still flowering strong, is absolutely huge and getting bigger and bigger and is crowding and shading its neighboring veggies. I thought for sure this thing would start to show signs of suffering by now, like some of my other veggies, but it doesn�t seem like it intends on stopping its present behavior anytime soon. Knowing that this can�t continue (not only for the sake of my other veggies, but also for fear that it will start dropping or popping its seed pods or whatever it will do with those things in my very small veggie bed), I rushed to these forums looking for answers. I�ve already gotten so much useful information here just from reading existing posts and responses that has helped my small but varied vegetable garden flourish, but alas, I have not been able to find information specific both to arugula seed-harvesting and to my strange, upside-down and backwards growing zone. Thus, my first post here ever, after almost a year of quietly looking for answers behind the scenes.

What I�ve learned so far:

When it starts to show signs of dying off, I�m supposed to stop watering it if possible, and then pull it and hang it to dry. Then when the seed pods turn brown, I�m to collect those and gently crush them to retrieve the seeds. I�m guessing this probably works best in places where the end of the growing season gets colder and dryer and not hotter and wetter.

Also, from a post I read here, I deduced that arugula is most likely a perennial down here. My understanding is that perennials down here stay alive (duh!) and probably won�t show signs of dying off. This means that I will be waiting a very, very long time (until the next ice age, perhaps?) before I can follow the original seed-harvesting instructions that I had found.

So now what am I supposed to do with this arugula monster? Will I ever be able to harvest its seeds? Can somebody, anybody who knows about dealing with veggie gardens in this climate please help me?