I Was Surprised the Overwintered Kale Has Bolted

Bob Bauer

April 08, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

April 08, 2017

I was surprised the overwintered kale has bolted and formed flowers already. It seems too early for that to happen. Then I realized that they are on the cycle to get their seeds formed, dried, planted, germinated, and the plants grown large enough to overwinter. Unlike the spring planted kale that sets it's seeds in late summer, to overwinter in the soil, and germinate next spring..

The flowers are the most colorful thing in the garden right now, except for my bright orange 5 gal Homer Simson bucket, so I think I'll leave them for the pollinators to enjoy. I'll gather some of the seeds when they have dried, and plant a nice neat row somewhere. I should also save some seed for spring planting and see if I can confuse them..

April 10, 2017

There was ice on the cold frame lids this morning and the forecast for tonight is 33ÃÂ°. It's been a challenging Spring for all of us gardeners trying to jump the gun. Getting a two week head start is fun, but if you are a month early, it's more work than it's worth. Meanwhile the cook came home with a jumbo six pack of bell peppers and a foot and a half tall Early Girl tomato..

Challenge accepted. I've got a greenhouse so I could just hold them there " until all danger of frost has passed and the soil warms up" but that wouldn't be very fun. I prefer to wrestle my succeses from the jaws of catastrophe :), so with all my wire and plastic sheeting I'll construct some hothouses, because the cold frames don't seem to be working out so well..

April 11, 2017

The watermelon and cantaloupe seeds germinated finally. The honeydew came up a week ago. I pulled back the plastic, weeded around them carefully, circled them with diatomaceous earth and Deadline, cut holes in the plastic for them, put the plastic back down, and covered the mound with a cold frame. I have hope that spring will begin to warm up..

Hope springs eternal (Ha ha).It's like starting anew, only this time on the dry side of the garden, where I will from now on begin my squash and melon transplanting. One super wet spring has changed how I look at my garden, and made changes in where plants will go..

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