The time I dread has now come. It’s time to thin my seedlings. This is where I have usually fallen down in past attempts at growing plants. I find it very hard to take young healthy seedlings, green and seemingly innocent, and yank them up by the roots. It seems so heartless. However, not to do so would result in the whole patch of seedlings suffocating in the midst of each other. Some have to perish in order for the rest to survive.
We can draw a parallel to this in our own lives. What activities, behaviors, or attitudes are overgrowing our lives? What habits need to be plucked out so that the important things in our lives can thrive? Maybe that time in front of the television can be eliminated to make time for being with loved ones. Or the time we spend web-browsing might be better served by writing our novel, making art, or getting involved in community activities.
Now, I don’t want to stretch this parallel too far— I am not saying you quit your job or dump your significant other in order to follow your life-long passion of collecting antique widgets and ding-bats. I am merely suggesting that we learn to walk more circumspectly, keeping an eye out for time wasters and negative attitudes that keep us from living a full life. Those things crowd us and they need to be curtailed.
By the way, I did thin my herb seedlings and moved many of them to larger containers. Already the lemon balm is taking off and the parsley is in fast pursuit. I can’t wait to see them flourish!
Lori G. © 2007
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Dear Lori: You have made a smile of memory for me: My husband long ago could not give up a single tomatoe seedling so we had 200 quarts of tomatoes growing amid the rose bushes in the front garden. All that canning! Good thing we both liked spaghetti. Fran
Comment by cronelogical September 12, 2007 @ 3:27 amYour parallel rings so true, Lori. But I don’t like the thinning either!
Comment by shewolfy728 September 12, 2007 @ 3:41 amnor me, but it has to be done. Just tell the discards that they are being sacrificed for a good cause
Comment by traveller September 12, 2007 @ 9:44 amLori, I appreciate your insights! Room for more growth!
Comment by espirit07 September 12, 2007 @ 12:54 pmLori, I like the parallel of our lives with a garden…it makes me think of the things we plant in our lives that later we may have to thin out or just yank up later on. Thinking of all our actions as “seeds” that we plant in our life-gardens maybe can help us to be more careful about what we plant- see, you’ve planted a seed in my mind!
Comment by marimann September 12, 2007 @ 2:02 pmWe are our own gardens and how we tend them makes the difference between healthy attitudes and habits. Everything in moderation, be it a tomato plant, a rose, or our own growth.
Comment by Vi September 12, 2007 @ 2:31 pmThank you, everyone. Mari, I am glad a seed has been planted. May it grow lush and green!. Vi, I agree with you. Moderation in all things. Maybe I won’t eliminate TV completely– I just don’t need to switch it on the moment I get home from work and have it on until I go to bed.
Comment by Lori September 12, 2007 @ 3:17 pmI never do this, I sort of let the plants fight it out for themselves. I know, it’s not practical but I’m not a practical person so why start now?
Comment by Anita Marie September 16, 2007 @ 7:15 pmYes, but your plants are from The Little Shoppe of Horrors so I understand completely…..
L.
Comment by lorigloyd September 16, 2007 @ 10:52 pmSame as Anita Marie, I never do this either. Not sure why I don’t, but I just don’t do it. Either way works, I am sure!
Comment by imogen88 September 21, 2007 @ 9:03 am