Thinning the Seedlings - oh the HORROR!

I woke up extra early this morning and spent the time with my Green Babies. Looking at all of the newer sprouts I actually remembered that I should start thinning some of them - a task that usually I conveniently forget about until I want to transplant them or they need a bigger container.

After all the anticipation and worry of whether at least one seed I plant will sprout I am usually super happy if more than one sprout because then there really is a chance that at least one will make it to the garden. Doubling or tripling the chances say. When they are still small I like to wait to thin (don't want to narrow it down to one seedling and then have it damp off or something) until the first pair of true leaves are well grown in. And by then I'm partially attached to all the little Greenlings and it seems like such a waste to snip the extras off.

I need to get better at thinning the flowers earlier, no point in letting several start growing well and then killing them trying to separate them later. It's not so bad with the veggies though - I made a nice breakfast snack out of the bok choy, cabbage and kale (I'd let them grow to 2 pairs of true leaves). Some veggies I learned do fine growing several seedlings together and separating later - onions, garlic, cabbage & sometimes broccoli and cauliflower. I'm sure there are more but I haven't figured it all out yet.

OH THE HORROR!

Tip for today: 99 Cent Store peat pots are highly prone to mold and fungus (that's why they're in the toss-bucket). It's paper & Starbucks cups and TP rolls from now on!