The rake’s teeth will uproot just enough of the plants, leaving the rest nicely spaced. When the plants are an inch tall, drag the garden rake lightly through the row or bed on the diagonal, first one direction, then the other. Many crops, such as radishes, carrots, and beets, can be thinned while standing and using a garden rake. But thinning needn’t be a backbreaking task. Some gardeners go to extremes in seeding, taking care to place the tiniest seeds just so in the ground to avoid thinning later.

It’s far better to have one-tenth of the crop flourishing than the whole lot malnourished and spindly. Even if you plant just one compound beet seed, thinning will be required (right), or there won’t be enough space for roots to form. With some plants, such as chard and beets, the seeds come in clusters that resemble a ball of tiny oysters (left). Chard that hasn’t been thinned also has a tendency to bolt. With chard, you will get many small, spindly leaves and no large ones with those delectable crunchy ribs. They must have room to expand underground. In the case of beets, if you don’t thin, you will get all tops and no roots. Beets and chard, which grow from compound seeds that produce several plants, are especially prone to overcrowding.

Most vegetables sown directly in the soil, rather than transplanted, will need thinning. What seemed hard-hearted to my gardening companion was necessary. Intent on my task, I didn’t notice until later that every plant I had pulled and tossed aside had been picked up, carried to the far side of the garden and carefully replanted. Some people hate to see a plant go to waste, as I discovered one day while thinning the chard in the company of an 8-year-old friend.

Thinning beet seedlings