If Your Greens are Bolting - Pick them Now!

This video was made to convince the novice gardener how to recognize when greens are bolting, and of the necessity of using them up immediately when that happens.
If you enjoyed this content, please share and/or subscribe to my KZbin channel. You can also check out my free audio podcast (maritimegardening.com ) where I discuss how to grow healthy food Also, check out my sponsors (see below), who have both created coupon codes for all my listeners & viewers. Veseys Seeds (www.veseys.com) offers a coupon code (GAVS18) can get free shipping on all orders that include at least one pack of seeds, valid until the end of 2018. Safers is offering 15% off coupon code (code = "maritime") on all Safers and Chemfree brands offered on Woodstreambrands.ca and saferbrand.com (for U.S.A.). Offer is valid until Feb 2019. You can also get a 10% discount on all your mason jar fermentation accessories at masontops.com using the coupon code "MARITIME10".
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Music: "Pioneers" by Audionautix.com

[@jennapeters8988]

Thanks! Needed to hear this 10 times for me to move on!

[@maritimegardening4887]

It's hard sometimes I know!

[@christinewee9505]

Hard to move on for some veggies

[@nicmic6138]

I like how you word it as "this is for a novice gardener" absolutely applicable in my situation, thank you, excellent explaination

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sanctuarywoods7748]

Two things I've come to realize.........I hate picking winners and losers. And I hate culling my greens. Thanks for the nudge. I WILL be brave. I WILL do this , tomorrow. lol

[@maritimegardening4887]

tough pill to swallow but you'll be happy when the next thing is growing!

[@eldonelder7254]

I used to feel that way too. It was as if I was being cruel or disloyal to my plants by abandoning them and murdering them after loyal service. Now I look at it as seeing how many generations of production I can get from my garden in one season; almost like a contest. When one crop is finishing up I'm wondering what challenge I can offer my garden next in the way of another crop.

[@eldonelder7254]

Thanks for this video. It was something I didn't understand well. I harvested my first spinach of the year yesterday and some leaf lettuce too. I think I'll plop a couple of extra cabbage plants I still have into the few openings that still exist between them in anticipation of when the spinach is done so that I'll have a few cabbages already well on their way to replacing them when the spinach is gone.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Good plan - the spinach dosn't last long - enjoy it while you've got it :)

[@francislaper1777]

Will try! Thx

[@maritimegardening4887]

Have fun!

[@JasonSmith-tv2zw]

My spinach bolted in Mid May in the UK and I direct sowed Beetroot and lettuce, coming up nicely

[@maritimegardening4887]

Mine were barely large enough to eat mid may! :)

[@charissatroup5611]

We had a heat wave last week, here in Ontario. The lettuce plants at the garden center were starting to bolt. Cooler this week but we didn't get your frost.

[@eldonelder7254]

I'm in Eastern Ontario (between Brockville and Kingston near Gananoque) and my lettuce and spinach are growing like crazy. I'll be harvesting a lot today. I don't think I've got any bolting going on yet but I'll take a closer look in a few minutes when I go out and start picking.

[@aklimakhatun6773]

My spinach doing same thing. I am very sad too!

[@CcCc-qk2fb]

I think my fault is choosing the coldest days of early winter to plant radish and cabbage didn’t expect winter is getting warmer and warmer theses days

[@lisawalker9836]

Everyone mentions bolting happens because of warm weather, but I'm in Jamaica and we haven't yet begun to have really hot weather. It's been fairly cool since the year started. I started planting in January and saw that the pak choi and arugula just started bolting this week (in April) after a week of constant rains...sigh, I'm a new gardener so just learning to expect these challenges 😕..,nevertheless, the best part is planting, watching stuff grow and then reaping 😄

[@DavidMFChapman]

Hmm the mache, arugula, and mizuna I grew in the cold frame have bolted, but I was going to let them set seed for collecting.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Oh yes of course, but maybe just let a couple do that :) You'll get thousands of seeds if you leave them all, and you can plant something else :)

[@barbarahuber1409]

Drat! I was afraid that's what was happening with my spinach but the plant aren't that old. I've been pinching the emerging flowers hoping to redirect the energy back into the plant. Guess I'd better bite the bullet & pull them.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Yep, call it and plant something else :)

[@nanel609]

I've been pinching mine too - ah well, now I know. Thanks

[@maryrancourt2467]

Wow, you are still having frosts and your spinach is already bolting. I will consider this when doing my spring plantings next year.

[@maritimegardening4887]

This year is nuts - hopefully a one-off!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Ridiculous - and then below freezing a couple days later!

[@parrotsandmore7446]

Oh my lol! It’s my first year gardening. My 4 lettuce plants in a long window container are about 25 inches tall and getting taller everyday. I thought it was just trying to reach more sun lol! So what will happen if I just cut it off? Will it regrow, or is it over? Can I make a new lettuce plant with the crown?

[@maritimegardening4887]

It's over. The leaves will be bitter from now on. Yank them out and plant something that will grow fast before the fall frosts. Spinach or letture are good because the are also frost tolerant

[@leegarner4111]

I think that's what happened to my radishes most of them were going into bloom so they stoped making a root,or radish.Thanks Greg for that great information.

[@maritimegardening4887]

It probably go too hot for them based on the kind of temps you seem to get!

[@francislaper1777]

Totally unrelated; How do you approach chipmunk issue?

[@maritimegardening4887]

With rat traps baited with peanut butter

[@northernpike56]

Would shade cloth or something similar maybe help prevent bolting? During hot periods?

[@maritimegardening4887]

Absolutely - and that's what I should have done. But of course I was lazy and said: Oh, they'll be fine :) and now they're done :)

[@maritimegardening4887]

Who knows. I'm sure the sprinkler keeps the soil temp down - that's probably why it prevents bolting - the plant can't sense the true temperature, so it behaves like it's spring.

[@chezgiardino]

5:55 is that a praying mantis hanging on the top right leaf?!

[@maritimegardening4887]

I doubt it - we don't have them here.

[@CityWideGardens]

Pull it or just cut to the ground??

[@maritimegardening4887]

You can do either. They'll just keep trying to grow and go to seed if you cut them - so pulling them is what I usually do.