Things I wish I would have known - gardening - pinching

Pinching is a wonderful thing. A lot of gardening books will post on this, but they mostly talk about stalk shoots and side shoots and how to pinch them off so that you can get bigger growth, but the part that I think helps out the most is pinching off the shoots that are about to seed. Even if you have a "slow bolt" type of plant, pinch off the stalks that show that are about to bolt so that the plant can continue to produce. This works for herbs (basil, mints, etc) as well as things like spinach so that you can get more leafy greens. This will cause your plant to produce more greens in an attempt to grow more seeds. If you let it go to seed too quickly then it will focus all the nutrients on the seed making process and none on your leafy greens. Try it next time and see if it will provide more greens and then just let it bolt(go to seed) when you are ready.