Thinning carrot seedlings

Gardeners are, by nature, nurturing and caring people. They love to see things grow, and watching over the *little ones*, encouraging with word and gesture. If you are a successful gardner, you know that your attention sometimes borders on the obsessive - worrying if you have done enough. Gardening is not for the *set it and forget it* types. And I believe that is it because of that nurturing spirit that many gardeners fail. And that is failing to thin out your seedlings.

When you sprinkle out seeds, they seem so tiny and the space to fill so big, but that doesn't last. Common sense tells you that each carrot plant is going to need space to grow, but that doesn't make the thinning process any easier. Like most amateur gardeners, I have often been reluctant to thin out my plants, with the result of overcrowding and poor performance. This year will be different!

This morning I started some serious thinning of the carrots. They were planted in mid-August, and it's now October 6th, so they are just starting to look like something you would call plants. So I sat down and cleaned up the area around them, selecting only the biggest and strongest, and pulling the little ones. I know that each plant will need about six inches of space around it to do it's best, so at least I minimized the need for thinning in one direction, by planting in a row, or *drill* that was spaced out six inches. But along those rows, the crowding had begun.

I cleaned out the leaves and other debris and then sprinkled a little fresh potting soil over the area, mostly for cosmetic reasons. Keep in mind that I am growing carrots and lettuce not only for their superior nutritional value, but also because they make a good-looking ground cover in the garden. So it has to look nice. It will.