If they are too thick, thinning should begin as soon as the plants come up. for some things, but for corn I wait a few more days to best keep the more vigorous ones ....within proper distances.

You can thin them now, all at onece or as you go along. This way you can eat what you pull out.. To allow the tops and root have space, I think 3 inches spacing is fine.

What else are you growing ? Some veggies are ok to grow in clumps like parsley, cilantro, chives.

Im growing broccoli, arugula, spinach, lettuce, carrots, green onions, radishes, basil and beans. this is my first garden ever so its kind of trial and error but everything but the lettuce and beans have sprouted and look good. i planted them 11 days ago though most sprouted around 5-7 days

I let my greens (lettuce, arugula) get pretty crowded, because I eat the thinnings (unless you want a nice head of lettuce). I do that to a lesser degree with spinach because you'll get better harvests from larger spinach plants.
I have learned the hard way that broccoli needs space--depending on the variety, 2-3 feet would not be too much.
Green onions need no thinning.
I like to use my fingernail or small scissors to thin carrots so as to not damage the roots of those left in the soil. I agree with a few inches for radishes, more for carrots depending on variety.
I don't think you can thin too early--as soon as the seedlings are recognizable.

Like I said in my first response some greens are ok to grow in clumps and also veeta mentioned similarly.

Of all the things you mentioned, I would thin BEANS from early on, as soon as possible. With basils, I would dig them out and plant them in proper spacing and maybe plant some of it somewhere else too. Basils need some elbow room to branch out and get bushy.

I'm a contrarian. I don't thin anything. I plant everything at the final spacing suggested for that crop. After the expected germination time has passed, I replant the "skips".

I save spending more for seed than I have to, and the labor of thinning. My garden is way larger than I need, so I (almost) always produce more than I can use or give away. Drought years of 2010, 2011 and 2012 excepted.

Just in the last three days have received 5.45" of rain. Could my weather nightmare be over?

@tdscpa

I also try to plant seeds at the proper spacing iFF:
-- The seeds are large, like beans, peas..
-- The seeds are scarce.
-- I am sure that all the seeds are viable.

But otherwise, with tiny seeds, when I have plenty of them, I sow generously and thin afterward. I don't want to take a chance and wait two weeks to find out that some of the seeds did not germinate. I look at it this way, THE(my) TIME AND MY EFFORTS ARE WORTH MORE THAN A COUPLE OF BUCKS.

Zone 8 may be too early yet to plant lettuce and spinach - might be too hot and they'll bolt and/or get bitter. Best to thin those as you go along and eat the thinnings, you might have to reseed next month for fall crop - or start the seed indoors and transplant when it cools off a bit.

I'm planting my fall peas now, spinach etc. later this week.

â¢Posted by ajsmama 5b (NW CT) (My Page) on
Sun, Jul 28, 13 at 8:48

Zone 8 may be too early yet to plant lettuce and spinach
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Not all zone 8s are the same. E.g. zone 8 GA and zone 8 WA, are world apart when it comes to summer/fall gardening. I am also almost in zone 8 . But here the fall planting is already underway in full swing.

I said "may". The OP didn't say exactly where he/she was, and since (s)he's a novice may have planted fall crops too early - or the basil and beans too late. Need more info, but original ? was about thinning so I guessed at location and gave best answer I could about which to thin now. I guess you can eat bean sprouts if it turns out it's too late in the season to get beans (app. 60 DTM)!

Thanks for the help. I planted everything 18 days ago and all but the lettuce sprouted but now dont seem to be growing much. The sprouts are still only no more than 3 inches tall on most. Some are getting more leaves. Also some are kind of falling over and they are only a couple inches tall but look like they are very healthy and growing.