Thinning Broccoli Sprouts

My seedlings are growing quite nicely in the set up in my kitchen.  All of my broccoli has germinated and has taken the task of reaching for sunlight quite seriously.  Since I planted multiple seeds per cell I needed to reduce the numbers so each plant could get off to the best start possible.  This meant that I had to decide which seedling from each grouping gets to have a chance in this years garden.

As you can see the seedlings are very crowded and competition for light has already begun.  Most of the seedlings has also started to grow their first true leaf, so they were at the prime time to thin the tiny plants.

The true leaves are the tiny spear shaped leaves at the center of the plant.  The large heart sharped leaves are the cotyledons, or seed leaves that help the plant get established after it germinates.  In each cell I left the plant that had the sturdiest stem (meaning that it didn't get too leggy reaching for the light).  I also choose the plant that had the largest and most healthy looking true leaf.  I want to select for plants that get off to a strong start so they have the best chance at being strong and healthy in my garden.  Strong and healthy plants should grow the fastest and produce a good crop in as short a time as possible.

After thinning down to one plant in each cell, these seedlings look like they have a bit more room to fill out.  In a few more weeks I expect that I will be transplanting these tiny broccoli into a tray of 3 inch pots.  With any luck I hope to get these out into the garden by the end of march.  I plan on keeping them under the cover of a low hoop house during the chilly period of early spring, but if all goes well, I might have a broccoli crop by the time summer plantings need to go into the ground.