Oh dear, having trouble telling whats a weed and what I've sown in raised bed

[rabbit]

Have sown some things like root parsely, scorzanera, carrot, beetroot, chard, marigold etc. I think the beetroot are easily enough because of red veins, I can't tell what to pull up! Except for dandelions, i didnt realy think it through... any advice?

[Glutton4...]

Start again!?

Alternatively, wait until they've grown more, so you can differentiate between them, then remove what you don't want.

We all make mistakes!

[WilliamD]

You'll be fine Rabbit. Each of those has fairly recognizable seedlings. Carrots for example start with two longish thin leaves then frilly leaves sprout from the middle. Scorzonera seedlings are two very thin long leaves. You could do a Google image search for 'beetroot seedling' and each of the others - there'll be plenty of photos. Or even post a photo of your patch here and ppl will comment.

[ancee]

I'd wait a bit longer Rabbit, I made the mistake of happily weeding away on Wednesday, then remembering I'd planted a load of rudbekia seeds! So i'm hoping they WERE weeds and the ruddy's haven't come up yet! Marigold seedlings aren't smooth leaved they are jaggedy

[JustPotteringAbout]

Even if one does plant in straight rows and mark the ends of the rows the flipping weeds seem to also grow in lines as straight as a row of soldiers.
As said by others look up pics of the seeldings if a picture isn't on the back of the seed packet. You won't go far wrong pulling dicot weeds from amongst monocot plants or vice versa.
In the case of dicot weeds growing amgong dicot plants maybe better to wait until true leaves develop to ID them. Keep a frequent look out for ephemeral weeds though, those that pop up then run to seed quickly eg groundsel, chickweed (annual) and don;t allow then to seed.
At this time of year just a few days makes such a difference in plants taking their form, you'll soon recognise them.

[Feral007]

We had this fun the first year. And probably will again. I nurtured a plant all season then couldn't decide whether it was edible or might be poisonous. Had a friend look and they weren't sure either.

Most of the plants become more obvious as they grow older, especially if you look at google photos. And the good thing is that a lot of weeds will have tap roots and have brought nitrogen up to the plant, so if you chop and drop as TS does then you are giving them fertiliser when you decide they are weeds.

Son got quite distressed when I merrily ripped out a 'weed' in the middle of where the broad beans were going to go.....I almost ripped it out again the other day ops:

[Two_Sheds]

Sow in rows, use labels. Anything growing "not in a row" is a weed.

The rest, leave to grow a bit bigger. When seedlings & weedlings are big, it's very easy to tell what's what

[Nicos]

Te he!...we've all done it!!
A few years ago I sprinkled a selection of flower seeds onto a bed to attract the bees. Problem is that they came up all over the place- and as I'd never grown any of them before I couldn't id the baby leaves.
I did a grand job of weeding- only to discover I'd taken out everything but 2 varieties of weed!!

Rows in future!....

Here's an interesting site....
Vegetable Plant Identification from Seed to Seedling

...hope that helps

[chefgage]

I always sow in rows and like what has been said anything between rows gets pulled up, weed or not.
Then I wait untill each plant has grown a bit so you can clearly see what is a weed and what is the intended seedling.

I was weeding the strawberry raised bed the other day and I saw a very bright green funny looking weed. On closer inspection it appears to be a small lettuce . I must have dropped a seed at some point, I have not got the heart to pull it up though

[Feral007]

No rows here. All sown in groups. We do like a surprise in this house And we like to mix and match our plants so that it's not an 'all you can eat buffet' for the pests when they come looking for their lunch.

[rabbit]

I sowed in squares (it's a square footer) and labelled it all but the labels have worn out and they wouldnt even help me in this case, since I have no idea what the seedlings of the veg I sowed looked like. I will have to leave them for a bit and hope they werent choked. Nice to hear others having the same woes!