They are flowering early as a reaction to the stress of unstable temperatures. The florets will likely be small. Harvest them above the leaf intersection when they reach a useable size and the subsequent flourish should be normal. Plants react to stress by going into survival mode. The species is propagated by producing seed, so flowering is the first step for most annuals when growing conditions aren't optimal. Your broccolini is only a little premature, probably, but it is interpreting the 20+ degree temperature fluctuations as an indicator the conditions could get worse instead of better, and proceeding with seed production in order to ensure the survival of the species. The second growth should be better, but it would also be prudent to do a second seeding now to extend your harvest.

We harvested potatoes today, and I posted some pics and commentary on the blog! In a word, they were awesome! emgardener, Our porch faces west, so the the plants get direct sun from about 11am until 7 or 8pm. I have heard that the morning sun is the "good sun" but unfortunately the house blocks most of the morning sun. The average temperature is a bit tricky to say. The porches in the city here are almost all built on top of lower sunrooms, and the floor of the porches is tarred to keep the lower roof from leaking. This makes the floor quite hot, but luckily we have a rug that mitigates this somewhat. If you were to stand on the porch barefoot in the summer without the rug it would burn your feet. It is also quite windy most of the time, which helps with the heat a bit. I would say the average temperature is somewhere around 80-85 degrees on most summer days. If it's 75 outside, it's probably a touch over 80 on the porch if it's sunny. My plants haven't wilted much in the heat. I think that using somewhat larger containers has helped with this. Most of my veggies are in at least 7 gallon pots, and the tomatoes are mostly in 11.4 gallon pots. I water about every other day when it doesn't rain, and it seems to work out well so far. The soil mix I'm using is the Sta Green potting mix sold at Lowes. I chose it largely because it was so lightweight compared to some others (since we are on an upstairs porch). I bought some moisture control and some normal. The moisture control stays damp very well, but I unfortunately planted the okra of all things in that pot (and it liked to be a little dry). I think that's why it has taken so long to really get going. Mike, Thanks for the heads up on the broccolini. We love broccoli but it's just not worth the space it takes on the porch. We had thought about broccolini, but I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure what the yield would be. It sounds like a good thing to try. Here is a link that might be useful: The Potato Harvest! (on the blog)

What can happen with bok choy is that after a hard frost, they may bolt to seed with the warmer weather. You cannot rush them too much but really, they do fine in cool, spring weather. There are usually a few plants that survive in my garden right thru a zone 5 winter. They are rather frost-bitten and not in very good shape. Still, they obviously can take some cold. You don't just want survival but some good growth and tender plants for the dinner table. Rapid growth rather than quick bolting will be best so good weather, fertile soil and adequate soil moisture all add up to success. Something nice is that the flowering stalks of bok choy are quite tender and sweet so that takes some of the risk out of seed planting, anyway. digitSteve

Broccolini and Broccoli raab are two different plants, though they are harvested the same way. Cut a good portion of the stem, down to where it is getting tough. You'll be eating the entire thing, stem, leaves, and flowers. The plant will grow sideshoots that you'll harvest the same way. BTW, I MUCH prefer Gailan to either. Also grow and harvest same way.