Before planting, the soil shall be prepared by adding some compost. It is sown in rows, spacing 30 cm apart in May-June. Until the seeds germinate, it is imperative to keep the soil moist. Harvesting starts before flowers appear, it is the leaves that are harvested. The rapini has a much more acrid taste than the broccoli raab.

As with many vegetables, rapini can be attacked by pests such as flea beetle (an insect that will come and eat the leaves) and diseases such as clubroot (a fungus which will alter the root growth). Subsequently these diseases cause a slower growth of the plant, which can even lead to the death of the latter.
It is mainly cultivated in temperate climates. Rapini is a vegetable but also a leaf.