Earlier this gardening season, we thinned the rainbow carrots to make room for them to grow. At the time, the thinnings were too small to be consumed.

Since then the carrots have grown considerably, so it was time to thin again.

“If carrots are too close together, they won’t grow very well,” said Courtney Behrens, The Organic Gardener crew member. “Thinning is the hardest thing for some people to do; it’s almost emotional. Most people don’t thin enough.”

But thinning helps crops grow stronger.

“At this point, they’re looking good,” Behrens said of the carrots. “We’re going to thin them to about two fingers’ width apart.”

Not sure which plants to pull and which plants to leave when thinning?

“I’m looking for the biggest stems,” Behrens said, adding she’ll leave crops with biggest stems to continue to grow and remove the smaller, weaker ones.

By the time the thinning was complete, we had a handful of baby rainbow carrots to take home and enjoy.

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