[spaldingjim]

When veg bolt and go to seed is the only remedy digging them up and sowing again?
I have some Mooli radish which we had a great crop last year (even through the Winter) but this year it has started to flower and even if I cut the flower stems off, just flowers again. Does anyone know if it will crop or should I cut my loses?

[DD.]

Hi Jim & welcome, I was in Spalding yesterday.

With bolting, depends on the crop, sorry know nothing about mooli. Onions for instance can be used, but not stored, brassicas have usually had it if they bolt.

Hopefully a mooli expert will be along soon!

[spaldingjim]

Thank you. We had a great crop of Mooli last year and it is tasty when used young, does not get woody even when left to grow to about 10 inches long and even more importantly, the slugs don't eat it before we do.
This years sowing however has gone to seed already. We only have a small plot so need to identify losers before they take up all of our space.

[dereklane]

You could always save seed ...

And, though I'm sure DD had in mind cabbages/sprouts etc, brocolli is meant to 'bolt'

Also, perpetual spinach is quite tasty even as it bolts.

Sprouts, you can eat the unopened flower heads (like a strong tasting brocolli).

Leeks not so good, but you can still use them, so long as the central stem isn't too fat (OK, so getting desperate now).

But, for radish (I haven't grown mooli) once they bolt the root is quite woody and really hot. Possibly the same with mooli, but just a guess.

Even some lettuce isn't so bad as it bolts (the oak-leafed lettuce, can't remember what it's called), it often just gets less leafy, so a bit useless for some vars... and you can always save seed.

cheers,

Derek

[gobs]

I don't think I had bolted mooli, not that I remember, but would say useless as per radish or turnip, the root probably will be too tough.

Cool season crop, as you say, sow them end of summer, early autumn, last summer was very gloomy...

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Jim & welcome, I was in Spalding yesterday.

With bolting, depends on the crop, sorry know nothing about mooli. Onions for instance can be used, but not stored, brassicas have usually had it if they bolt.

Hopefully a mooli expert will be along soon!

Hi Jim, and welcome from me too, hope you enjoy yourself on here, its a lovely forum, if a bit nutty at times!

And DD, why were you in Spalding and didn't come up the road and see me?  We are only 8 or so miles from Spalding!!!!!

Next time, you let me know you're visiting and I'll give you directions for a lovely cup of tea or coffee!!!!!!!

[spaldingjim]

Eating as well as growing tips, excellent. I am glad that I found this little haven.
Many thanks

[iwantanallotment]

I pulled up my bolted leeks yesterday and tried to use them - no good, it was exactly like chewing on balsa wood  
Hope you find a use for your radishes, Jim.

[DD.]

And, though I'm sure DD had in mind cabbages/sprouts etc, brocolli is meant to 'bolt'

Broccoli forms small florets. That is not bolting. When it does bolts it does not make a compact floret but a straggly wide open thing that quickly makes a yellow flower.

[DD.]

I pulled up my bolted leeks yesterday and tried to use them - no good, it was exactly like chewing on balsa wood  
Hope you find a use for your radishes, Jim.

Were they last year's leeks? If so they won't have bolted, they will have run to flower at the natural stage of their cycle.

[DD.]

And DD, why were you in Spalding and didn't come up the road and see me?  We are only 8 or so miles from Spalding!!!!!

Next time, you let me know you're visiting and I'll give you directions for a lovely cup of tea or coffee!!!!!!!

Will do GA. We were at an amateur radio rally at one of the schools there. Boring but true!

[iwantanallotment]

Were they last year's leeks? If so they won't have bolted, they will have run to flower at the natural stage of their cycle.

No DD, they were  planted out around 3 months or so ago (diary not to hand)

[dereklane]

Broccoli forms small florets. That is not bolting. When it does bolts it does not make a compact floret but a straggly wide open thing that quickly makes a yellow flower.

Well, OK, I stand corrected - (my definition is slightly different, ie - 'for a plant to prematurely begin the development of a flowering stalk and, subsequently, seed', and a flowering stalk brocolli is, though admittedly it still doesn't completely fit my thinking...). But obviously the definition needs to bend for different veg in order to make sense.

But I eat the multitude of little open buds right up to the point where they flower anyway, and they're still quite sweet. And, so long as you catch them prior to flowering (even if its only a few days at a time), they'll keep producing for ages. I kept some calabrese in the greenhouse over winter, and only 3 of 5 plants produced the central head they're meant to, but I was eating from them all until about a month ago at periods of a couple of weeks. The good thing about many brassicas (definite exception for me is radishes and turnips) is that you can eat them at almost any stage (but maybe that's my palate too

cheers,

Derek

[DD.]

Were they last year's leeks? If so they won't have bolted, they will have run to flower at the natural stage of their cycle.

No DD, they were  planted out around 3 months or so ago (diary not to hand)

Gosh that's early - they probably thought it WAS last year!

Mine are still in trays waiting patiently to go out.

[Smojet]

I was looking around the posts to figure out what to do with all my leeks from last year that I just realized are sending up big buds. I suppose the end of the semester got away from me... Should I cut off the flower stalks and let them grow? Or harvest them all now and do a lot of leek-heavy cooking?

THANKS!