thinning lettuce

Dawn asked about thinning lettuce. You do it because you were profligate--one might even say exuberant--and you sowed the seed with wild abandon, so that the lil seedlings have no room to grow. See how they are all smushed together under the squash seedlings? And you do it as soon as they are big enough to go on a cheese sandwich *eyebrow waggle* which means about as long as alfalfa sprouts. I just pulled out small clumps of them from all over the pot, washed and dried them and put them on my sandwich--roots and all.

I have to say though... I wish it were the spinach I had been exuberant with, because lettuce thinnings sure don't have much flavor! Well, maybe as they grow they'll get more. I'll certainly have to thin them repeatedly until the last plants have room to grow to full-size.
And yes, the squash needs thinned also... but I am reluctant to do so because I think that multiple plants might offer me a chance to get squash despite the squash vine borers, which I found out were bad in this area. Of course, I didn't find this out until after I bought and planted the squash seed. *wry smile*

It's coming on time for fertilizer. Everything has stopped growing (or slowed drastically) and I suspect that means whatever nutrients were in the potting soil have been used up now. My fingers are crossed that I can find something natural (or even organic!) at the hardware store.