One of the most difficult tasks for the new gardener is "thinning" out their vegetables. It seems a real shame to pull out the young plants after you've went through all the trouble of getting them growing. But if you don't thin out your vegetables, the crowded plants will compete with each other for food, water, sun and growing room. You will increase your vegetable yields by thinning the plants. Thinning is important especially for carrots, beets, lettuce, radishes, spinach, parsnips, beans, peas and corn.

The best time to thin out your vegetables is when you are weeding the row for the first time. Carefully pull out the smaller plants in the row when they are l to 2 inches tall and the soil is moist. Be careful not to damage the roots of the rest of the plants in the row. The remaining plants should be spaced two to three inches apart in the row. After you have thinned your plants, some wilting may occur due to the heat of the sun. A gentle thorough watering will perk them up again.

Keeping ahead of the weeds is just as important as thinning your vegetables. Start working on weed control as soon as the weeds start coming up. When they are very small, weeds are much easier to control and have used less of the available food and water.

Some helpful hints on weed control in your garden are: Hoe off weeds in the heat of the day so they dry out and die in the sun. Don't water on the same day as you hoe. Many of the weeds, especially purslane are very quick to re-root. Don't till or hoe too deeply near your vegetable plants. You may damage their roots. Generally none of the chemical weed killers are recommended for home vegetable gardens. They are much to selective for use with the variety of vegetables grown in the typical home garden.

This page was last updated April 2003

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