everything is turning to broccoli!

[laurenlulu]

Well- thats what I thought when I was looking at my cabbage and spinach plants yesterday- they all seem to be growing bud clusters... I guess that 90 degree heat wave wasn't so good for them. My cabbage never formed heads, it just kept growing taller and taller and now has broccoli like buds on top.

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[bid]

I have... I have!!! Once they have been exposed to colder temps and then the temps warm up, they bolt. One thing I have noticed about spinach is you can tell when it is fixing to bolt because the new leaves aren't rounded. They are more of an arrow head shape. At least that has been my limited experience...only 2nd year growing spinach.

 

[laurenlulu]

bid, thats exactly what they look like. Its too bad too, they never got very big.

Is there anything I can do with it?

 

[bid]

Well I kept a few, 15 or so, to let go to seed for the fall and next spring. Just let them dry on the flower head and you have seeds for another try. It's interesting to me to see the flowers of common veggies simply because I never used to let things go to seed. The flowers and the pollinators they attract make the garden so much more alive with butterflys and small wasps. We all grow plants for the harvest. Whether that be for the beauty of the flower or the scent they provide or for the table the satisfaction of helping produce that harvest is only made better by harvesting from seeds you have saved.

Of course if you have animals, they will gladly eat the excess. My chickens aren't nearly as picky about the taste as I am.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Try to find a variety of spinach that doesn't bolt in your area ! Or grow Perpetual Spinach (sometimes called New Zealand Spinach ), It's not from the same family but tastes similar & is said not to bolt in summer. Now that is true here in the UK but I don't know whether that is true of all the zones of the US. Certainly New Zealand has very high temperatures!

There are many different so called spinach like plants you can try -- i.e. Orach & Malabar Spinach. I like them all but I would love to find the one my Grandfather grew. It had a very iron-y taste. I loved it as a child in the 1940's -- I was considered very odd, as most children hated it because of this lingering metallic taste. I have heard that the seed companies worked very hard to remove this trait from their new varieties......Hmmm!......Well, they really succeeded. If anyone knows of such a variety please tell me as I would love to grow it.

Happy Gardening.

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[digitS']

Here we may be dealing with different names - British/American.

Perpetual Spinach seems to be called Spinach Beet by British seed company, Thompson Morgan.

http://www.tmseeds.com/product/697.html

I really like it, it tastes more like beets than anything else but is closely related to chard. It is a biennial so usually provides fresh greens right thru the season.

New Zealand spinach (you suppose they call it something else in New Zealand? ) is a perennial. Once you've got it, you generally have got it. It spreads and if it doesn't make enuf growth its first year, it'll be back like a carpet the 2nd year.

Dad grew it and I liked it but he didn't and took it out. I guess I could have taken a start before he did.

"Iron-y taste," huh? No, I think I would have dis-remembered that variety.

I live where it will turn hot and dry in about an instant. Regular spinach is difficult to grow. The varieties I have the best luck with are Hector and Unipack 51. How are those for unappealing names?? I mean, you could go with "Medania" or "Melody" . . . I'm stuck with Hector and Unipack 51 .

Steve