sprouts bolting, help with swedes

[snout71]

Hi

from what i understand my sprouts have bolted, flowering i believe they are to turn to seed, why did this happen? i planted in march.



for my first time gardening i am quite pleased how my veg is turning out, everything seems to be growing, my carrots and swedes especially, should i be trimming some of the leaves from the swedes? as they seem to have grown quite a canopy



any help would be great, thanks in advance

[chris]

The hot weather in April probably stressed them out, so they quickly thought they needed to reproduce. Did they experience extended periods of drought?

Pull 'em up and plant something else if I were you - no point in saving the seed, the offpsring will have the same traits as the parents (early to bolt)

[snout71]

it was dry but have been watering regularly, every other day, sometimes every day during hot weather (on the evening)

it is only the one that bolted, the other three have not, will pull it up

when should i plant sprouts then for next year?

[chris]

Off the top of my head, I can't remember - I worked it out before (Trafalgar) as I wanted them for xmas day, and I think I sowed them beginning of March under a cloche - that worked - the packet will say for definate though.

re: trimming the sweede leaves- obviously the more leaves = more energy for the plant. If they're shading others out, you could trim them a bit, but next time plant a bit further apart

[teakdesk]

Make sure the soil around the roots of your brussels is very compacted (tread/stamp on the soil) - they do not like loose roots that wobble in the wind.

Pull the seeded one up but I eat newly grown leaves of brussels sprouts - treat like cabbage (maybe boil/steam with a bit of onion to make it sweeter).



Did you thin the parsnips ? What spacing did you thin too ?



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[snout71]

they are thinned to between 7-8 inches

[rustylady]

Make sure the soil around the roots of your brussels is very compacted (tread/stamp on the soil) - they do not like loose roots that wobble in the wind. Looks to me as if the sprouts are growing in quite a small trough and I would guess multipurpose compost (?). Not ideal conditions for sprouts - as teakdesk said, they like firm ground.

Did you thin the parsnips ? What spacing did you thin too ?

Parsnips? I thought we were talking about swedes.

[teakdesk]

Oops......


What makes it worse for me is they are probably turnips and neither swedes nor parsnips !!





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[snout71]

they are indeed swedes, but they are all from the same family anyway

[Alison]

Re the sprouts, when did you plant them out? I always sow about late Feb and plant out in May. They're pretty small at the moment and won't start sprouting (is that the right term?) for months yet.