plant growth

[wareagle69]

so i noticed something interesting this summer. i have hollyhocks growing all around and some were growing at the back of the house and i was getting new windows put in so i cut them down, well today i noticed that while all the other plants had been down for a few weeks, the hollyhocks i had cut down mid summer were in full bloom. kind of makes me wonder about other plants, extending their season by cutting the stalks dow mid summer again, like nettle and keeping the edibility going all summer and into fall.

[ClayPick]

Hollyhocks are a biannual. When it flowers it's one big flower stalk that reacts well to dead heading. If it doesn’t get to make seed it keeps on flowering. You just deadheaded it. I knock down nettle to extend it into the fall. Botany never ceases to amaze me.

[wareagle69]

bullzeye on that one, botany does facinate me also, although i did pick up a college book on botany and i couldn't read it, not interesting at all too much about micro organisms all and ton of crap that had no interest to me

[rwc1969]

I've wondered the same thing. I think it would at least extend the season.

I'm gonna try continually cutting back certain plants next spring and see if they keep producing fresh greens and for how long compared to the ones I don't cut.

Like trying to keep your regular garden greens from bolting?

[Rick]

Do a little study first on the plant you are interested in. Some will work very well either by deadheading the flowers or by topping the plant to prevent seeding. Others do not react favorably to similar treatment. No use in reinventing the wheel when the info is on the web.

[wareagle69]

although i have not done this with nettles the lady i study with just clips of the top of the plant all the time and is always harvesting the new growth, which i am told is always the best, from my understanding asperagus is the same way, although i did not get a chance to do so as i think my horses was getting to it before me, might have been a ground hog. but the horses have a guilty look about them

[Rick]

Are you sure it wasn't the dog?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pmlEcRS0YQQ/R2KE1JaooWI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/c-59MvUV7t0/s400/sorry%2Blook

[ClayPick]

Neat thing about asparagus and nettle is that they respond well to cultivation. I’ve wasted hours trying to improve different wild edibles only to find out they do better on their own. How do you get upset with a pup like that?