Thin your seedlings in your organic garden to get a healthy crop. Photo / Paul Thompson
Organic gardening:
Plants that grow too closely together compete for moisture and nutrients as well as sunshine. They can end up smothering and shading each other . The resulting crops can be spindly and lean - so make space and ensure a good harvest.
The reason for thinning is to
give growing plants adequate space to thrive and reach maturity.
Here are a few tips to help your fledgling plants on their way to maturity:
1. Thin rows of newly sown seeds when seedlings are small. This makes life easier and more productive. Thinning should take place, ideally, when plants have their first set of true leaves (these come after what are known as the cotyledon leaves - the first that are produced from the seed). Getting the job done when they are small means there is less likelihood that roots and foliage (particularly tricky with things like feathery carrots) have become entwined.
2. Before thinning, water seedlings with a gentle shower of water from a soaker-head on a hose or a rose attachment on a watering can before thinning. This will reduce any chance of any shock to plants.
3. Pull seedlings swiftly upwards with thumb and forefinger - being careful not to dislodge neighbours.
4. Thin 'till remaining seedlings have large enough gaps that they can grow into. This could just be a judgement call - in terms of whether you like fat, peppery mature radishes or slender, sweet young radishes and so forth.
5. With beetroot and carrots you can continue to thin as you harvest 'baby' roots when plants start to mature. This leaves room for a few to grow large (good for cooking).
6. The best time of day to thin is early morning, or later in the day, when the sun is weakest. The idea conditions are a cool, overcast day when plants are likely to be less stressed by the whole affair.
In most cases you can eat the seedlings you remove! Enjoy!
