Growing and Bolting

by A.J. Coltrane

We planted winter-hardy vegetables in late October. Mache was direct seeded on January 5. Cherry Belle Radishes were direct seeded on February 10. Super Sugar Snap Peas were transplanted outside on February 16. Romaine “Winter Density” seedlings followed them on February 24.

But nothing really did a whole lot, until this week. This week we’d go into the backyard and the vegetables would be perceptibly bigger than they were the day before. About half of the Bok Choi bolted a few days ago, so it got harvested before it could get bitter. More bolted today — it got cut out too. Altogether it came out to around two pounds of Bok Choi. Pictured below is today’s 3/4 lb – about 3 decent-sized heads:

That’ll be a stir-fry with garlic, sesame seeds, and Sriracha.

I *think* I read that cabbages planted in the fall will bolt more quickly in the spring. That may be what is going on here. I’m not sure though — that’s something that needs additional reading.

The peas are doing well. Here’s February 14:

And today:

No output from the peas yet, I’m guessing that’ll happen soon(?)

Finally, the romaine lettuce:

At least so far the front yard seems to be the better location for cool-season vegetables. It faces east, and doesn’t get sun during the hottest part of the day. We’ll see how it goes when it gets hot outside — it may require shade cloth to slow the bolting… Though the early results are encouraging.