Bolting - Garden Plant Bolting

This is the last week for spinach and lettuce. Most of the spinach is bolting now, and the lettuce will be bolting by next week. In case you are not a gardener, when a plant bolts, that means it has put up a stalk and is starting to create flowers. Instead of producing tender large leaves, the plant's energy goes into reproduction.

I'm not sure where the term 'bolting' comes from, but the speed with which the flowering stalk comes up is suggestive of a kid bolting out the door, or a horse bolting through the gate. My dictionary includes this definition of bolt: "To flower or produce seeds prematurely". My spinach really is not bolting "prematurely" given the hot weather that we had last week. It's right on time. We call it premature because we'd like to continue to harvest the leaves. But the plant wants to get on with its life.

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