when were they planted?
I'm not an expert, but I believe that blooming is triggered by light hours and temperature. For instance, I would have planted Cilantro in October and expect that it would have bolted by now. Because I had planted it last fall, some of that Cilantro would be maybe 12 inches high.


Hopefully someone with more veggie experience will offer their wisdom :-)

Could it be the rain, or all these cloudy days? I just noticed that my corn, even though only 2 feet tall, has tassels. It's my first year to plant corn so I don't know if that is normal or not. I don't recall seeing tassels on neighbor's corn until it was taller.

Stress. When a plant is under stress and thinks it might die, it will make a last ditch effort to try and pass along its genetics. Have you ever forgotten to water some seedlings in the little plastic six packs they come in and found them shooting out blooms, even though they only have one or two leaves? Same principle applies.

That's a peculiar range of plants bolting on you. Spinach bolting, but not chard?

If the root systems are over-saturated then they can't get nutrients. There's an old farmer saying ... "A dry year will scare you, but a wet one will starve you."

Cilantro and arugula self seed for me. They sprout in the fall, grow through the winter and bolt in the spring. That's their natural way of growing in this climate. I think it's recommended that spinach and bok choi be planted in the fall and harvested through the winter and early spring.

Thanks for your comments.

I did not mention that I see this bolting by the middle of February. I do not buy potted plants since I like to grow from seeds.

This happened last year with bok choi but not with cilantro (can't remember if I plant spinach). I plant cilantro in January and in September/October. This is the firs time it bolted so early.