Newbie veg grower - telling apart seedlings from weeds?

Spudface33

Hello, I'm Gill 
A newbie to this forum and to veg growing in my garden.  We sowed them in designated rows for our radish, spring onions, lettuce and shallot seeds, which are marked by string so we know where to look. Our radish are easy to identify but the other rows are being swamped with loads of random (im guessing) weed seeds too and its hard to see whats what. 
Hubby came up with an idea that we should have sown a few seeds in pots first so that we could recognise them when they popped up outside.

koyukano

Spring onions will be single stalks and should be quite easy to identify compared with weeds that tend to start with two leaves opposing one another. Lettuce seedlings the colour might help you identify them as well as the shape of the leaves. Only just started myself but that's how I would try to distinguish them. 

Spudface33

Ah thank you thats really helpful, we think we may have a sort of row of lettuce seedlings but hard to tell.  Good luck with yours, what are you growing?

Lyn

Just a little tip when growing salad crops, remember how many you will eat in a week, you don’t want 50 lettuces or 100 radishes ready in one week, so try sowing a few a week, then you will have a constant crop for many months. 

herbaceous

With very few exceptions I find it pays to wait a while for the true leaves to appear as that makes it much easier to see whats what. Most weeds will start to show their true identity in plenty of time to remove them and better that than hoe your next meal 

But then I am a lazy gardener!

Spudface33

Lyn said:

Just a little tip when growing salad crops, remember how many you will eat in a week, you don’t want 50 lettuces or 100 radishes ready in one week, so try sowing a few a week, then you will have a constant crop for many months. 

Thanks Lyn, yes thats a good idea and the reason I am such a newbie!

Spudface33

herbaceous said:

With very few exceptions I find it pays to wait a while for the true leaves to appear as that makes it much easier to see whats what. Most weeds will start to show their true identity in plenty of time to remove them and better that than hoe your next meal 

But then I am a lazy gardener!

Yes I'm all for that but will have to restrain hubby from eagerly hoeing until they grow a little. Thanks for your advice

koyukano

Spudface33 said:

Ah thank you thats really helpful, we think we may have a sort of row of lettuce seedlings but hard to tell.  Good luck with yours, what are you growing?

Sorry I could not have been more help! I'm growing mostly potatoes, spring onions, onions, radishes and lettuces in 3 raised beds at the moment. 

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1035428/just-saying-hello-after-joining#latest

Spudface33

You were a big help, im eagerly looking for single stalks now among the spring onions

Skandi

Plant in rows and mark where the rows are. then anything not in a row can be weeded out as soon as it appears and you can wait a bit longer for the ones in the row.

GemmaJF

I would wait a little longer, it will become clearer. With a little more experience you will instantly recognise the rows. I wouldn't disturb anything when the veg seedlings are tiny, let them establish a bit more first.