Every time I plant something I do exactly the same thing: I scatter far too much seed around, then a week later kabam! Hundreds of tiny little seedlings emerge, hopefully poking out of the soil and into the sunshine, eager to grow, little aware of the awful fate awaiting them.I'll be outside, anxiously hovering over my pot (in this case rocket), when the Galumph will stop by. He'll peer in, sigh, look at me, look at seedlings and then say, "You know you're going to have to thin them."
"Noooooooo!", I'll wail. "I can't! I'll be a murderer of innocent plants. Don't make me do it!"
And the worst of it is that I only scatter so much seed in the first place because I so desperately want the plants to germinate, and figure the more the better. I'll be standing there with the seed packet in my hand and think "Oh well, bottoms up!", and before you can say Eruca vesicaria three times quickly half the packet is in the pot. But then my misplaced enthusiasm turns into this horrid survival of the fittest scenario when every single seed comes up with the goods.
Eeeeeeek! I'm so sorry, little plants. I'll just be over here with my eyes closed, letting you sort it out for yourselves.
I know what you mean! I feel terrible about slaughtering my little seedlings! But last time I didn't do it my tomatoes turned into a forest and none of them grew properly or had much fruit on them.
ReplyDeleteAhahaha!!! That's so exactly me....I have been known to scavenge construction sites to rescue bulbs that were just starting to sprout, cause I couldn't bear the thought of all their little growing efforts being trampled into the ground, lol. And thinning....a horror. :p
ReplyDeleteI can't bear to thin out seedlings, I scramble around for more pots and dirt to transplant them into. Always ends in tears when they are all crammed and lanky together, and I have to do some selective breeding!
ReplyDeleteold grannies trick, put half the seeds in a jar with some clean sand, shake it up and spread that around. two weeks later, repeat with the remaining seeds. vwollah, vegies with no thining required and you get two crops instead of everything being ready at once. whatcha fink?
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