Gardening Australia

Just found out what spinach bolting is 😅 Should I cut my ironman down to prolong it?


I bought it from the bunnings discount section about a month ago. It was already pretty tall, but I thought that was just the way this variety grows. It’s grown a lot since then but now also has these fluffy growths close to the stalks – I assume this means it’s trying to seed and will then die?

I’m new to growing vegetables. Is this generally how growing veggies/herbs works? They produce for a while, go to seed, and die? This plant produces such yummy leaves, I was kind of hoping it would just keep growing as long as I kept taking leaves, like sage or something 😅 (Now that I think about it, does sage die every year too?? It’s been a while since I’ve had a garden…)

by cowboy_bookseller

1 Comment

  1. DeeDee_GigaDooDoo

    More often than not once a plant starts bolting there’s little you can do to stop it. If you notice it early and cut off the relevant bits it can extend it a bit but its usually an unstoppable process that has been set in motion. At this size/stage i think chopping it back wouldn’t do anything and it would probably die at the same time regardless. I’d probably just let it go to seed and collect the seed to resow.

    Sage is technically a perennial but it usually only lives about 2-5 years. Although it doesn’t like cold wet winters like this one has been so i think my sage might have died and i wouldn’t be surprised if yours has also especially if you’re in a more southern region.

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