Grow Your Own Magazine

A few of my lovely swiss chard have bolted! Do I need to pull these up and dispose of them, or if I cut them back will they re-shoot? I thought chard was meant to pretty hardy I think the variety was "bright lights" or something similar, although they're all white stemmed.......

Try cutting out the central shoot that is trying to flower. You may get side shoots. It's probably too hot and dry.

Great thanks, i'll try that tomorrow - fingers crossed they re-shoot as they're the best crop I've had so far

one of our neighbouring plots has had the same problem, i'll suggest that to them when i see them.

They probably won't grow too much if the stalk has already shot up, but pick what leaves you can and sow some more.

They usually keep going through the summer, but you do have to shade and water well if you are growing them in light soil or pots. They are sometimes better sown later (like now) to crop in autumn and into winter, then left in situ they revive in the spring and you should get even more!

Try not to pick too many leaves at a time from each plant - I suspect this can also hasten their bolting.

they are ... "hardy" means that frost doesn't kill them.

My chard have bolted too. Chard can cope better than spinach with water shortages, however you should still water regularly to prevent bolting (flowering). If a flower stalk develops then clip it off to extend the harvest.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Now is the time to be growing chard and spinach, sow to early and they will always bolt, often without stopping on the way. Sown in the next few weeks and they should then go all the way through the winter.

Ian

I grew a couple of rows of Swiss Chard Bright Lights last year outside and I had a lot of problems with plants bolting. This year I am only growing Silver Chard (white stems) and have about 100 plants in my tunnel. I crop them for my veg boxes at about 18" - 24" high, cut them back and let them grow on again. They get watered everyday though the temp in the tunnel can get quite high. No plants have bolted this year and this Friday I will be taking my second cropping.
I think that my bolting problems last year can be put down to inconsistent water supply and also possibly variety choice. This year my chard has been superb.
I will be able to judge better next month as I have sown 150m of the same variety outside a frtnight ago so I will be able to compare performance.

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday 17th September

Yes Rat, silver chard is the only one of my plants that DIDN'T bolt.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi