Celerew and Bolting Bok Choy

Just another day with my plants!

...Or *is* it?

Look at that skull action in the back corner! Didn't realize I had that fellow in the picture; looks neat though so that works for me. With the photo turned this way, one could almost imagine that there is water running in a mythical circle of never-ending stream action instead of a plastic shower curtain with a vertical tile pattern of a waterfall pasted on it. Almost.

First off, here is a picture that I have been harboring for quite some time of:

... "THE OTHER PLANTS" ...

Behold my strawberries in the large dark pot, the 'bumbershoot' in the white pot (forgive me I haven't the slightest clue what that plant is except capable of producing giant lily pink flowers later for me), the big leaf plant (...well it is... -_-) in the brown dish behind the strawberries.

Please to see the Bok Choy growing in the margarine container during the cold, rainy days we've been having. 

Perhaps ignore the ant trap behind it entirely.

Anyway, as I was outside early yesterday afternoon watering my garden I found an unexpected surprise. Today, I took pictures of it.

 These are "The Other Plants" as they appeared today.

 ...And that...

 That's a...?

...flower?

Now I, being one who love all things that grow and especially things that bloom while growing in my care was quite excited to see this.

Then I Googled it. And I found this:

([from here, an ehow site])

"Flowers

• Bok choy plants may eventually produce yellow flowers instead of continuing to grow into an edible mature vegetable. The presence of flowers suggests the plant has "bolted," which means the bok choy has begun to seed instead of grow fully. This happens if the weather is too hot while the bok choy germinates."

   

  ...So let me get this straight. I am not going to be eating this any time soon (what was I expecting growing it from the end of a Bok Choy I bought weeks and weeks ago that I tried to grow in a plastic margarine container with holes stabbed in the bottom for drainage?) and if I had read this site earlier I would have known that Bok Choy like cold weather (apparently they can handle 30 degrees Fahrenheit--yes I had to look that up, it's approximately -1 degrees Celsius so just below freezing) and that they should be planted in the ground at seedling stage.

  What exactly gave me the idea of planting the part I usually compost? 

  Surprise surprise, I was on Pinterest a while back and came across this picture:

  

  (This picture is from "The Kitchn" blog, the page is located Here called `Re-Growing Celery`)

  I, of course, loved the idea and promptly re-pinned it to my `Recycle By Recreating` board, which I have to admit is my favorite. (It is definitely worth a look even if you do not have a Pinterest account, you can still view what I have pinned there.) Thus, I made sure to save the celery end the next time I had one.

  

  ...I really should not have soaked it in the water for well over a week before I planted it. 

  The Celery End project became...

  

  ...CelerEw.

  Not to be discouraged (the beginning of my seedlings was more my focus anyway, of course) I saved the end off the Bok Choy that I had eaten the majority of. This being my first time actually breaking down and buying Bok Choy, I really did not know anything about it at all. (You don`t say!)

  In the end, I wound up planting the Bok Choy in the gooey mess that remained of the celery end. Apparently, all was well... Until...

  ...the bolting.

  But I am not discouraged--in fact, I am actually rather excited about it--not only do I get yellow flowers to water, I get FREE (ish) Bok Choy seeds--eventually. I win!

  
  

  ©reated by ŊetHerŊøte