Cut and come again salad - help a novice

[Anomaly]

I've put in a row of spinach, row of rocket and a couple of rows of salad bowl. I'm a bit shocked because they are actually growing, so what do I do next? They are currently tiny little green shoots which I suppose I need to thin - this I assume means picking out some of the shoots? How much of a gap between shoots should I leave? When are the plants ready to take leaves from? I'd be grateful for any advice as feel completely clueless.

I think you should only need to thin out the rocket, as the spinach and salad bowl are just leaves which grow from the ground, as opposed to the rocket where each shoot you can see is an invividual plant which will provide many leaves. That's assuming salad bowl is a salad leaf mix and not lettuces? I am a bit of a novice too, so please don't rely on my advice :o I think it also depends on how many shoots you have at the moment too... I made the mistake of liberally sprinkling the rocket seeds and ended up having far more rocket than we could ever eat, so will definitely do a bit of thinning this year. To thin them, take out the smaller, weaker looking shoots so there's about 2-3cm between each shoot, but don't worry too much, you can thin them again later on :)
Not in the least bit scientific, but I decided they were ready to be eaten once they looked vaguely like I would expect to purchase them in a shop :o

I never bother because by picking the odd leaf to eat thins them. I expect there are more experienced gardeners out there who may help more with measurements of how close they should be. You will need to sow more seed in a couple of weeks to ensure a continual supply. Also I lost most of my salad one year because I forgot to use slug pellets.

I grow rocket and salad leaves. I never, ever thin them out (I am much too lazy!). I find the plants don't get very big, so I plant them fairly close together (I have them in a planter on my window sill, to space is seriously limited).

Those little shoots just grow and grow until they are recognisable as salad leaves. Usually, after about three weeks the leaves should be large enough to harvest. Cut them off carefully; the smaller leaves should grow and produce a second crop.

Sow more seeds at regular intervals for a continuous supply.

Rocket is hardy by the way and will self seed, don't worry about it producing the white flowers, you can pick and eat them, they are quite strong but very tasty. It should over winter. Anyway, this is my top tip for cut and come again salad bowl leaves. Buy a punnet of the variety growing salad leaves from the supermarket, about 99p. Divide it up from the little plants that it actually is, and plant out, spacing them apart. Plant in a shady spot and keep moist until established. In approx 10 days you will have multiplied your investment and will be picking your first crop. I do this twice a year and it gives in abundance.