As the temperatures continue to warm up, many of our spring cool season vegetables like lettuce, radish, and carrot will soon begin to bolt. Bolt is the term used for sending up a flowering stem. When this happens root crops tend to get woody and difficult to chew and leafy crops like lettuce and cabbage tend to get bitter and inedible. Keep them watered and harvest them as soon as they are ready so you don’t miss out on the harvest. If they do send up a flowering stalk, let them flower and collect the seed to plant in the fall garden. If the variety is an heirloom variety, it should grow from seed to produce the same crop. If it’s a hybrid, well let’s just say it could be interesting to see what comes up from the seed.

Now is also a good time, if you haven’t already done so, to plant summer crops like squash, cucumber, tomato, and pepper. I know there are so many varieties to choose from that sometimes it’s difficult to decide which ones to grow. Whatever you plant, keep it watered, and keep a look out for those pesky insects that can damage the crop.