Leava,

I'm glad you're having some garden joy after everything y'all went through last year with the storm and the trees and the destruction.

Kale, turnips and Swiss chard that overwinter generally will bolt in the spring, although it will vary from one to another. In my garden, turnips generally bolt first, then kale and eventually chard. All of them are biennials that bolt after they are exposed to temperatures at/below 45 degrees for a prolonged period of time (a week or two) after the plants have attained a certain age or a certain size. Being biennials, they are in their first "year" after they sprout and grow. Once they are 4-6 weeks old and then are exposed to a week or two with temperatures at/below 45 degrees they go dormant. When it warms up again, they grow again, but since they had been dormant, they now are in their second "year" (even if the plants are only a few months old) and at some point will bolt.

Different things trigger bolting. Usually it starts with the exposure to temperatures below 45 degrees after they are fairly old. Then, as our daytime highs warm up more and more, and as our daylength (numbers of hours of sunlight per day) grows longer, they "know" (instinctively, not intellectually, as far as I know) they need to flower and set seeds to ensure their species survives. Any other kind of stress can trigger bolting after they've had that dormant spell, so be careful if you decided to separate them and pot some up----that might be more stress than they can tolerate (though it might not be....with plants you never know).

Some years I have had overwintered cool-season crops bolt as early as March and then other years they haven't bolted until May or June.

With the clover, I assume your red clover is trifolium pratense, which is the type sometimes used medicinally. Maybe you could Google trifolium pratense images and see if they match your plants and their flowers.

Dawn

thanx Dawn that is helpful.I have one stalwart swiss chard plant that is 3 years old.It was one of 3 that overwintered from year one to year 2 and enjoyed leaves off all of them the whole time.Two died but the third is still going as of now.

I should save seeds from that lil guy.

Truthfully just seeing the beds planted and alive with living plants cheers me up.From what you are saying i best enjoy all the thinnings this spring.

I am going to check out the winter sowing forum and see what else i might get going now......

I remember you start a lot of seeds around the Super Bowl time,did you this year ??

leava, giant mustard and daikon radishes are great to fill in overwinter, too. The mustard will survive (and bolt in the spring as Dawn suggests). The Daikons will reach a very large size and die from the cold leaving little pockets of compost everywhere. Some say they smell, tho.

How big is your garden?

we have 4 beds each approx 3 by 10 feet...never have been able to afford all the blocks....originally thought i would plant in holes of bricks but never happens so thinking to turn to smooth side up...

all the green you see within the beds is either edible greens or clover.the brown is mulch path between beds.berry canes on fence to right.back right corner has always been a nightmare where johnson and bermuda would creep in from alley.this summer we piled wood mulch about 2 feet high in the whole corner so hoping we slowed it down at least lol

this is the garlic in that bed.....

winter gardens are so sad

That's so nice. It makes me want to play in the dirt. I never enjoyed weeding the holes in cmu after I found a hoe. Then, the dirt needs to be refilled.

Leava, I had a Swiss Chard plant do that once, although it is unusual. Mine never did bolt and go to seed---it just finally died one winter after it was 2 or 3 years old. I guess it wore itself out.

I did start seeds yesterday and will be starting more later today. How ridiculous is it to be talking about starting seeds when we woke up to 18 degrees this morning? Still, it won't be 18 degrees for long and eventually the weather will stabilize and we'll be able to put the little plants into the ground.

Winter gardens are sad, and February is the worst of the winter months because we can justs feel Spring approaching but it isn't here yet.

With the loss of the tree or trees that the storm brought down, is your garden space going to be a lot sunnier now? We had a shady back yard in Fort Worth and the shade was from neighbors' trees, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. All my poor little garden plants had to struggle and fight for the sunlight, and never did as well there as my plants do here in full to almost full sun.

Dawn

actually this yard is in back of the studio and is mostly sun.we have one ancient pear tree that is stunted and most limbs broken off that bears wonderful pears like asian pears every 3 years or so if frost does not take the blossoms or baby fruit.last year was a pear year and we love them.it does not have many long limbs so we are fine for sun.the back of our own house is all shade now.grateful for the shade though since it is 100 year old house with no central air conditioning....

I am too big of a wimp to live without central air conditioning. I do love old houses though! I've also found plenty of veggies, herbs and flowers produce just fine in quite a lot of shade. In our long, intensely hot summers, full sun can be torture.