First cuts
Time to thin out the lettuce and arugula. Between the seven varieties, some of the seed I used was up to four years old, so to be safe, I was quite generous, maybe 4-5 seeds per cell for the arugula, and a bit more for the lettuce (that tiny seed can get away from you, though with new seed, I try to go lighter). Germination was good, and the little seedlings are already shading out each other as they push for the light. I’m still getting used to timely, to-the-point thinning, both in the trays and in the field. I usually have the urge to leave ‘em a while longer, but almost always, this ends up being not the best thing to’ve done. Give the best ones the biggest break as early on as possible, which means, kill off the rest. This also takes some timing experience, but in general, it’s hard to go wrong by not waiting around. Sounds brutal, but that’s about it! The lettuce will eventually be one per cell, although for now I’ll leave a couple per. Starting arugula indoors is a first for me, I usually direct-seed, so I’m figuring things out this time around. I’ll leave two per cell, and plant them out two together at 6″ (15cm) spacing and see how that works out. Here, I’m snipping arugula at the soil level with wickedly pointy little shears…
It looks like your sprouts are doing great. We’ve always direct-seeded all of our greens, so we’re watching your progress closely!
You should offer 101 vegetable gardening classes. I think you’re going to be my Gardening (Tiny Farming) Guru this year! There’s so much to learn!!!
I think this is going to be the hardest part about gardening.. who wants to kill off those beautiful baby sprouts!?!
Nicole,
It might make you feel better to throw the thinned sprouts into a salad. They’re delicious!
I second Gillian and Nicole.
There is so much to learn so thank you for sharing with us all
umm, yeah, what all those ladies said! Since I’m starting from scratch, container gardening with little to no knowledge, the thought of thinning hadn’t even occurred to me…I’d just have let everything grow wild, patted myself on my back for my mad skills, and then scratched my head in wonder as stuff died off so fast…thank you, thank you for continuing to educate us!
I’m happy to share, it’s fun! Don’t forget, I’m only learning, too. The stuff I’m doing seems for the most part to work out quite well—the veggies are good!—but there are always different ways and room for improvement! Once you get a feel for what’s going on, I think growing isn’t hard, it’s not so much tools and techniques, only keeping at it that really counts…!
Great tips on thinning! I always hate thinning. I wish I could just magically transplant the other seedlings without damaging the rest but I know that’ll never happen. It’s torture for me but I seem to muster enough courage to do the cut.
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