Wide Row Thinning

I may have mentioned earlier that I am trying gardening using Dick Raymond's wide row method. This basically entails scattering seed over a wide row (about a foot wide), instead of seeding in straight lines. This causes some congestion as things grow, but allows you to continuously thin your garden. Each time you thin you remove the largest vegetables, allowing more room for the small ones to fill in. The idea is that you get to harvest sooner and for a longer period of time, for an overall larger yield.

Well, last week a "thinned" about five pounds of turnips and rutabagas. One of the hardest parts of gardening is finding ways to use produce that you don't really like, or just have too much of (remember my 12 pounds of radishes last fall?).

I hunted the web for turnip recipes and finally ended up making this turnip souffle. It actually ended up being pretty decent. It is not one of my favoriate all-time foods, but I think it really makes a decent turnip side dish--even if it was quite a bit of work.

Well, today I did some more thinning and brought in about four pounds of carrors (2 each of Nantes and Danvers). I have a total of about 6 or 7 feet planted in carrots, and after picking all of these I still have 6 or 7 feet planted, and I will probably pick them again in a few weeks.

Other thinning was not quite as gratifying. My broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce were just way too close together, so I had to pull out a lot of it in hopes that I can get something from what is left. I should have done it a lot earlier but I only rarely get myself in the garden with a flashlight to work. Surprisingly all of my lettuce still seems to have survived the freeze.