Never fear. You can make the most of your bolting lettuce and spinach by learning to harvest your greens’ seeds!

I was fighting my leaves to grow

Does the heat have your garden down? It seems impossible for me to grow usable spinach in my climate this year, because since it sprouted in May, it’s been hotter, windier and drier than ever. I decided it was time to let them bolt. It’s all they wanted to do, every day.

My earliest lettuce was much more prolific. I was busy and did not harvest it all. It bolted because is stayed out in the heat too long and it became very tall. The lettuce that’s left is tougher and more bitter, but, I have a ton of flowers on it.

What is bolting?

Bolting is when a plant starts to grow taller suddenly, making a flower stalk. Plants do this when the weather or other conditions are not right for them, they are attempting to survive by making flowers so that seeds are produced. That generation is submitting, so that the next one can sprout.

For ideal lettuce conditions, look here

Spinach ideal conditions are here

You get tall wispy plants with small leaves when this happens. But, you get FREE SEEDS!

Know when to harvest seeds or keep your plants

Every time your greens flower, you know seeds aren’t far behind. Most of them grow in a pretty short time, so know when to trim them and when to let them bolt.

When it’s extremely hot out, your greens are very small, and are starting to bolt, look at the forecast. If it’s going to be cool very soon, for a long time, remove the top when it bolts. You might give it a shot to branch and grow to a good size, slowing the bolting progression.

Forecasts that say it’s going to stay hot are a sign that you should probably let those little ones bolt, and keep them watered. They will produce seeds. If they are heirloom plants, harvest your greens’ seeds instead of battling them! You can replant the seeds you harvest once it starts to cool down, because many greens only take about a month to grow. In most zones in the northern hemisphere, you still have a good amount of time to grow new greens like lettuce, and spinach.

Will any old seeds do?

It is important to check if your plants are heirlooms. These varieties are tried and true. Harvest heirloom seeds, regrow the same variety from their seeds, over, and over again, unless there is a rare mutation.

On the other hand, a new hybrid variety will likely not produce the same exact variety you planted. The results instead will have some characteristics of each of the 2 parent varieties of the one you originally bought, not your plant.

So to avoid less predictable varieties when re-growing, use heirloom seeds to begin with. Try (if you can) to plant only one of each plant species nearby each other, to avoid cross pollination complications and creating hybrids.

Harvest your seeds!

What’s next? Look at your plants and be patient. If you have a little bit of room to let them sit, they will seed. Let’s break it down by plant:

Spinach

Spinach in cooler temperatures is just little stems and well formed leaves. When it has a skinny green tower of tiny leaves and tiny green flowers on the top, it’s bolting. The plant will get very small leaves and sometimes get a tall stalk, or sometimes seed, and then dry up very short. It is still edible if it is healthy. Bolted spinach is more bitter and tough, and possibly a slightly different, less round shape.

Spinach seeds are easy to harvest because the seeds themselves are visible on the stalks. They are about the size of a medium plastic pinhead.

To collect them:

• Collect them after they turn straw colored, for the easiest collection
• Snip the stalks that have visible, round seed pods on them, and collect them gently into a paper grocery bag or large apron
• Some stalks might not have seeds, you can compost those right away
• Find a table or dry clear surface to rub the seeds in between your finger and thumb to loosen the outer pod and drop the seeds.
• Store in a labeled paper envelope and let them sit in a dry place for a couple weeks in order to avoid mold from moisture. If there are a ton of them, please spread them out in between paper sheets instead.
• Last, place the envelope in a cool, dark dry place, like a tin, jar, or plastic box for next year, or, until the weather cools enough again.

LEttuce

Lettuce also makes a tall stalk with smaller and smaller leaves going to the top. Its leaves are edible if they are healthy and are not dried or wilting. If you eat bolted leaves, they will be more tough and bitter.

Many little flowers grow on top of the stalk. In my experience, the flowers are not all at the same stage at one time. I wear thin gloves while I harvest the seed pods. The lettuce makes a milky sap that’s sticky, and attracts bugs. Also, please look out for pods with black crumbly bits, and throw them out; bugs leave them in there. The lettuce has many good pods left, I assure you.

I gathered SO MANY lettuce seeds this summer.

To harvest them:

• Wait until the yellow flowers close.
• Look for flower pods with white, fluffy tops. It is easiest to squeeze out seeds from is brown, dry pods. Sometimes they fall out if you let them sit like this for too long, or bugs have gotten to them. You can check every day to avoid seed loss. It’s up to you! Green and super fluffy (on the right, below) works too!

• Snip good pods off into a bag or apron. Bring the pods to a clear dry work surface, with room for four areas.
• The four areas are: unharvested pods, clear work area, garbage pile, and seed area. You need a clear area to harvest over. Some pods will be bad; you do not want to unload gross bits over a clean pile of seeds, and store that dirt with the seeds.
• Take a good pod, and firmly pinch the top, leaving the fluffy bits sticking out. With your other hand, rip the fluffy bits off. Next, roll the pod between your finger and thumb over your work area, letting the seeds fall.
• IF seeds are left in the pod, rip it open and rub to loosen them.
• When the seeds are fairly clean, sweep them over to the clean seed area. If not, sweep them to your garbage pile, with other used pods.
• Dry your seeds in a paper envelope for a few weeks. if you have a ton, spread them out between two sheets of paper first.
• Place your labeled envelope in a clean, dark, dry tin, jar, or bin to store for cool weather, or next spring.

Enjoy your seeds

I hope that makes you feel confident enough to gather some seeds and make the most of this hot weather. The heat may drive the plants crazy, but it doesn’t have to get to us! Good luck with your harvest of greens’ seeds!

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