It’s a pretty common gardening tip:  plant a few seeds per start just in case the germination rate is below 100%.  You can always just pinch off the extra plants if you have a good germination rate, and then you’ll know you will probably get at least one plant per starter plug.

Here’s the problem with that advice … you have to choose.  I get two cucumber plants in one pot.  One lives.  One dies.  How to choose?  Can I choose?  Maybe I can just transplant the other.  It’s not fair that one has to die.

And truth be told, I am terrible at killing off the extra plants.  I probably shouldn’t feel this way.  But it is hard.  The indoor cucumber experiment is progressing nicely, and I finally reached that decision point with one of the pots that had two plants in it.  I prayed for courage and wisdom to decide, and then I snuffed out the life of one of my cucumber plants.

Won’t you join me in a moment of silence for a young cucumber that never got to bear her fruit?