Late in the growing season, certain plants bolt or go to seed. The plants sense the changing of the light and naturally send up a stem or a stalk, then pour all their energy into creating new seeds. After, the plants drop seed onto the soil for next year.
Known as self-sowing, these veggies, annual flowers and herbs do all the work and make less guesswork for you in the garden! And these free plants and seeds are also great for pollinators, as they bolt and flower late in the season. Plants such as lettuce, mustard, arugula, sunflowers, calendula, fennel and nasturtiums all self-sow. If you let them bolt now, come spring, the seeds they dropped will sense the perfect weather conditions — just the right warmth and light — and on their own, they’ll begin to germinate and grow. You won’t need to guess when to plant. Try out the self-sow method with any lettuces that are bolting right now. Leave them to drop seed, then next spring, you’ll have a bunch of little lettuce seedlings!
Another method to take advantage of bolted vegetables and flowers is to cut off the seed head and sprinkle the seeds onto a part of your garden where you want to grow. Either way, you’re going to have a bunch of little baby plants next season.
Charlie Nardozzi’s next book, The Continuous Vegetable Gardener, has a whole chapter on self-sowing vegetables.
