Kitchen Garden Forum

This year many of our salad leaves have quickly flowered (before they are large enough to harvest anything)or gone to seed, these include rocket, various lettuce varieties and giant red mustard.
Is it the unseasonal weather - has anyone else had this problem?

Hi Glallotments

When you say "salad leaves" do you mean individual, spaced plants or thickly sown for "cut and come again"? If the latter, all the plants you mention are likely to bolt very quickly from a summer sowing, whatever the weather. When I used to sow salad rocket outside it always bolted from a late spring early summer sowing. Now I grow it only in the polytunnel, and whenever sown is always much slower to bolt - I've no idea why!
Summer is not a good time to sow any oriental brassicas - have a look at this in the Technical data forum.

Don't worry - sow again.

Hi Alan,
Individually sown and planted out. All plants have been grown on it trays etc first.
We have sown some directly into the soil in the greenhose and that has bolted as well.

Hi Glallotments

My second batch are doing exactly the same thing. All grown in trays and planted out 10 days ago, most are bolting.

The first batch have just gone to seed after around 3 months of picking leaves.

I'm wondering if the seedlings were stressed in the (few days of) hot weather before being planted. That may account for it.

I have my next lot growing on in the greenhouse as I don't think this second batch will last long at all.

Hi Glallotments,i have had the same problem with my swiss chard all gone to seed. I have set some straight in the garden,and they are growing lovely no sign of going to seed.

I tend to sow rocket in spring and then again in September time and i usually get a good crop but i always find sowings made inbetween always tend to bolt very quickly

all my spring sown romaine lettuces have done this, we got to eat exactly none of them

My rocket is OK but I only have wild rocket and that goes year on year and self seeds all over the place. I have had a few flowers but it's good for the most part and nice and peppery.

I've noticed today with the lettuce that it's only the green stuff that's bolted, all the red ones are fine!

The salad leaves, mizuna, mustard and others etc that we are growing now are fine. They were grown in trays and planted out in August - exactly the same method and seeds as we previously used and had the bolting problem.

I read somewhere that they are short daylight plants so could it be that in midsummer there are just too many daylight hours? Even this summer!

glallotments wrote:The salad leaves, mizuna, mustard and others etc that we are growing now are fine. They were grown in trays and planted out in August - exactly the same method and seeds as we previously used and had the bolting problem.

I read somewhere that they are short daylight plants so could it be that in midsummer there are just too many daylight hours? Even this summer!

Glallotments

There's the answer: sow later and you will have no problem dusring autumn.

alan refail wrote:

glallotments wrote:The salad leaves, mizuna, mustard and others etc that we are growing now are fine. They were grown in trays and planted out in August - exactly the same method and seeds as we previously used and had the bolting problem.

I read somewhere that they are short daylight plants so could it be that in midsummer there are just too many daylight hours? Even this summer!

Glallotments

There's the answer: sow later and you will have no problem dusring autumn.

So you see you were right all along! The "I read somewhere" was tongue in cheek by the way!!

glallotments


Enjoy your winter salads

The oriental salad leaves I sowed in a sunny border bolted immediately, yet those I sowed at the same time in an almost permanently shadly patch are still going, although they're past their best now.