• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Speaking
    • Upcoming Speaking Engagements
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

Letters to Gardening Friends, May 3, 2009

May 4, 2009 By Carol Michel 15 Comments

Dear Dee and Mary Ann,

Isn’t this the prettiest bowl of lettuce and spinach?

I think so, but then I might be biased because those are the thinnings from my lettuce patch, harvested earlier this morning. They make a great salad, along with those onions and radishes from the garden, just as fresh as you can possibly get.

I’ve noticed that some people find it hard to thin out their lettuce and other crops so they leave the plants all crowded together. That’s such a shame because the plants don’t get a chance to grow as they should and the harvest is overall disappointing.

Thinning lettuce isn’t hard and it doesn’t waste the plants! To thin my lettuce out, I grab a little clump of lettuce, pull it straight up and out, and then cut off the roots and throw the leaves in a bowl. I leave a lettuce plant every four, five, or six inches apart, whatever seems right, and these will form nice lettuce heads for later eating.

Here’s a picture of my lettuce patch before I got in there and thinned it out.
You can also see in this picture that I kept true to my word and planted a second crop of lettuce which looks like it will be ready to thin out in another week or so. The best time to do this thinning is early morning when the water content in the plants is highest, or after a good rain or general watering.

Here’s a picture of the lettuce patch after thinning.
I gave my lettuce patch a nice drink of water afterwards. You’ll notice a row of mesclun, or mixed greens, over by the onions that I left alone. I generally just cut and eat those leaves and don’t bother to thin them out.

I hope to be cutting and eating lettuce for a good while, as long as it doesn’t get too hot too soon, which causes the lettuce to turn bitter.

But the conundrum of the garden is that I want it to get a little warmer so I can plant out my tomatoes and other “warm season” crops.

I did set out my tomato, eggplant and pepper plants in the shade today to start the process of hardening off. They’ve got to get used to the rugged outdoors after being inside since they germinated.

Dee, you wrote that you bought more tomato plants because your own tomato seedlings look puny. Mine do, too, but I’m going to resist the urge to buy tomato plants. (Stop laughing, Mary Ann, I am!) Every year I think my tomato plants are too puny to do much, but they always do well once they get a little sun and finally get in the ground.

My plan is to plant tomatoes and the rest of the vegetable garden on Memorial Day weekend, but I’m getting kind of antsy about it all, so I might plant everything this weekend coming up. We’ll see what the long range weather forecast looks like. Our typical last frost is around May 10th, but we’ve had frost as late as May 25th. The year we had that late frost, I had to buy all new tomato plants! But that’s another story for another letter…

I’m going to go enjoy my salad now. When I write next week, I’ll be three days into my vacation, the one I take every May just to garden. Won’t that be fun!

Flowers and veggies to all,

Carol
May Dreams Gardens

P.S. There are lots of blooms on my strawberry plants. A reader wrote last week asking about disappearing strawberry leaves on new plants and could it be that rabbits were eating them. Absolutely I would blame the rabbits! Speaking of which, I haven’t seen any rabbits this year, and I haven’t seen signs of them eating in my garden. So I haven’t covered anything. I might be nuts. I might walk out there one day and find out that the rabbits are still around, not because they are sitting around waving “Hi, how ya doin’ Carol”, but because they are sitting around all fat from eating all my vegetables in the garden. Geez, I didn’t realize I was this much of a gambler, a risk-taker!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: letters to gardening friends, vegetable garden

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gail says

    May 4, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Bunny free..that is good news. A friend gave me lettuce fresh from her garden…delicious! I need to grow my own. gail

    Reply
  2. Mr. McGregor's Daughter says

    May 4, 2009 at 12:52 am

    I wish I had seen this before I thinned my lettuce seedlings. They're just tiny little things, & I some out, but they were way too small to eat. Next time I'll let them get bigger first.

    Reply
  3. Aunt Debbi/kurts mom says

    May 4, 2009 at 4:35 am

    Fat Bunnies waving, snicker snicker.

    Reply
  4. Joanna says

    May 4, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Thanks for the tips. Sunday was the last straw, when half of my broccoli plants were missing thanks to a rabbit. there is now chicken wire around the broccoli, cabbage, and strawberries. Here’s hoping that works out.

    Reply
  5. sweetbay says

    May 4, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Good pointer about thinning the lettuce. I haven’t grown it yet, but would love to next year.

    Reply
  6. Dee/reddirtramblings says

    May 4, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    I think your lettuce patch is just about the prettiest I’ve ever seen. I find it amazing that our patches caught up with each other in spite of the fact that I planted mine sooner. Interesting isn’t it? Your information about thinning is very, very good.~~Dee

    Reply
  7. Layanee says

    May 4, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    That is a spring picture for sure! What is better than the picture? I am sure the salad! Sometimes I like a solitary salad….lettuce alone!

    Reply
  8. Cindy, MCOK says

    May 4, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    If I ever get serious about a veggie garden, I know it will benefit from all that I’ve learned from you three!

    Reply
  9. KayGee says

    May 4, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    I haven’t seen any rabbits this year either. Last spring they were eating clover each morning in the back yard.

    Reply
  10. Erin says

    May 4, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Great tip on lettuce thinning. I’m new to the whole veggie gardening thing this year and I’m still a little unsure about when and how to thin, so this was just what I needed. Looks delicious!

    Reply
  11. Frances says

    May 4, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    Hi Carol, what a daredevil you have turned into, early tomato planting and no bunny spooning! Thanks for the info about thinning the lettuce, I am one of those reluctant ones, and see from yours how much better it is to go ahead. I didn’t realize you could grab a bunch rather than pull them one at a time. Thanks!
    Frances

    Reply
  12. Corner Gardener Sue says

    May 4, 2009 at 9:47 pm

    I enjoyed this letter about thinning lettuce. I think my favorite spring gardening activity is thinning the spring salad fixings and eating them. I’ve also been pulling some leaves off of the mesclun greens, and have been remembering to add violet flowers and leaves to the thinnings, too. If you want to check out my post about it, the link/address is http://acornergarden.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-thinning-of-gamble-garden-april.html

    Happy Gardening!

    Reply
  13. Corner Gardener Sue says

    May 4, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    Oh, and I have seen bunny bites on my peas and a few lettuce leaves. They especially like romaine.

    Reply
  14. Sandra says

    May 5, 2009 at 12:23 am

    That is one great looking salad garden! You’ll inspire us all.

    Reply
  15. Ginger says

    May 7, 2009 at 5:28 am

    Your lettuce looks GREAT. Inspirational as Sande said!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,048)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT