Anyone else really bad at thinning plants?
Anyone else really bad at thinning plants?
I have learned a lot about how it's needed, in particular for short growing seasons and to prevent some pests. Still, you would think I'm killing puppies or separating twins.
It’s wild, I’m still relatively new to gardening, and when I watch an elder do their thing they are just expertly brutal. Meanwhile their gardens are gorgeous and happy, and mine are crowded and overwhelming.
I hate the idea of splitting so much! Like slicing through their lifelines shouldn’t be good for them. And having read about how plants actually communicate distress hasn’t helped my bleeding heart, haha
I had to thin a clump of tomato plants this morning and actually yelped "so sorry!" as I did it. It's ridiculous. And I'm currently procrastinating on separating the paprika plants because I have to recover first.
I struggle with that too. It makes me feel a little better that they're going straight into the compost pile to become nutrients though.
Replying quite a long time after the fact, but I just had to thin some radishes and dangit I was thinking of this post. I find it difficult in particular because of wildlife predation- I never know which of the remaining sprouts will even survive!
Exactly! What if I'm removing the ones that would otherwise have the best chances‽
I am too! I never know when to do it and I am always worried I am doing it too early (even if there are true leaves for example).
Sometimes I am able to be careful enough to move the plants I am thinning to an area where they didn't germinate.