Now that I have thinned a third of a mile of carrots, I feel entitled to subject you to my musings on the topic. For those who don’t know, thinning refers to pulling out all the plants that are too close together. Many of the crops that we grow by planting seeds directly out into the garden (as opposed to transplanting) will need some amount of thinning, but nothing in more onerous than thinning carrots.
Why is it so hard to thin carrots? Partly, it’s because I feel guilty pulling out a plant that I asked to grow. I put it in the ground, and it did everything I wanted it to, only to be pulled out and cast aside. What an injustice! Until I realized – News Flash – the carrot doesn’t care. The carrot’s goal is to make seeds that will grow into more carrots. I am confident that whether you pull the carrot as a tiny seedling or as a full grown root makes no difference to the plant. Not that I think carrots have consciousness, but even if they did I would make no self-centered assumption that they would feel better about their abbreviated life if their fate were to be eaten rather than cast aside. How ego-centric of me!
Another issue is excessive, Scrooge-like frugality. I try to squeeze too many in. A carrot saved is a carrot earned, Poor Richard might say. But thinning isn’t wasteful. In fact, a well thinned bed will produce more usable carrots. Not thinning is wasteful.
Of course there is the “what if I pull out the wrong one” argument. What if that 
one carrot I just pulled was the big one, the State Fair carrot? As new farmers, we have to make zillions of decisions all the time with little experience to guide us. Which carrot to pull is of little consequence in comparison. In summary: it doesn’t matter, just pull one.
The good news is that there is a cure for carrot thinning anxiety. It comes with experience. I actually enjoy thinning carrots now. No moral crisis, no existential dilemma. Once you do it enough, you get over it. Need some carrot thinning immersion therapy? We’ll have another third of a mile in carrots to thin in September. Make your reservations now.
And isn’t thinning a great metaphor for life? Sometimes we just have to pare things down so that what we do choose to focus our love and energy on can thrive. You can’t grow every carrot, and you can’t do everything. Thinning carrots is about finding balance.
That concludes the pep talk. If you find yourself faced with some thinning, here are my top tips:
• Instead of deciding which plant to pull out, focus on the one you want to keep and just pull out everything around it.
• Never try to “save” your thinning by replanting them. If you have space and want more, reseed.
• If you need proof that your efforts are worth it, leave part of the bed un-thinned, and see what kind of difference it really makes.
• Don’t seed so heavily. For carrots, pelleted seed helps or mixing seed with sand before planting.
