I'm a Murderer...

well baby killer to be more precise...

I broke down and did it today - i thinned out the seedlings. It sucked. I really didn't want to do it b/c i mean, it's the first time i'm growing things from seed and you just get so happy watching them come up. i know what i planted is very easy to start from seed, but you still have this slight sense of accomplishment, you know?

So i walk out there to the bed and i crouch down and just look at them: all bunched up and huddling together so cute and tiny. i take a deep breath, slowly let it out and say to myself: alright some of you guys gotta go. and it begins.

the first couple of yanks were bad, i was kinda cringing thinking of what a murder i am. but then after that it got easier. i'm the kind of person that really over thinks everything so i'm sitting there making some metaphor out of everything. i'm thinking to myself, wow, i wonder if this is how serial killers start. i guess i'm a plant serial killer now, sigh. i was talking to dad telling him what i had to do and said "you know, i have to kill a few for the good of the whole". to which he just sipped his coffee made an aw-that-sucks face, slightly nodded and goes "yeah...". sarcasm at it's finest. you know, it felt like there was some war going on and i had civilians in a building with dangerous people and i gave the order to bomb the place anyway, like "it's for the good of the nation" (in presidential old white man burly voice). or like it was some war movie where one guy is wounded and he's all like "no john, leave me, save yourself" and john goes "i'll never leave a soldier behind, damnit!" and hoists him over his shoulder while mortars are blowing up everywhere - but in this case i would have gone: "alright, man, catch you later!" and just left him in the bush. my mind runs away sometimes. oh and btw, i hate war movies.

< thinned lettuce

thinned spinach and pea >

all the sprout casualties :( (left to right: lettuce, spinach, pea)

ok, so i did as much as i could stomach thinning wise. it says pea and lettuce is 2-3" b/w plants and spinach is 3-4". i got close although my 1" was more like 3/4" :) i just don't have the heart. but it was a good lesson on a couple fronts. Now i know, hey silly don't sow that many seeds unless you want to feel horrible for being a plant killer later. Also, for the tiny, dust-like seeds i plan on sowing them first (much thinner this time) in gutters outside and then sliding them into their permanent home in the ground instead of directly in situ to begin with (a trick i saw here on seedtoplate). although i refuse to pay that much for gutters. i'll find a cheaper alternative. Also, getting that close down to the ground to thin, i noticed 2 things: little weeds and termites. Now, i dont know how termites are going to effect things b/c they are not listed as a pest in any plant book i've seen. This could be that they don't inhabit gardens naturally and most people are smart enough to deal with and not put gardens so close to termites. Go me! I'll have to look that up though. 

i also noticed that the snow pea is not growing at the same rate everywhere. my only guess is lighting conditions (?) b/c everything else is the same across the board. i'll have to monitor how the light hits the bed during the day (i realize that the sun changes course in the sky depending on the season as well). i'm sure i could use this to my advantage for plants that would also prefer a little shade during the course of the day.

you can notice how the bottom row is taking off at the left side and not as much on the right. I'm a little perplexed b/c i would expect less growth from the top row since its closer to the wall. i donno...

One last thing: propagation is great.

the weather change is making such a change in the roses. I had a young bush (pink aromatherapy rose from jackson perkins) that i thought was a goner and bam! that thing is coming back with new shoots from the main stem. my little stems from propagation are coming along great.

YES, that is the same one from the 25th of Jan! believe it. completely amazing...