I hate to thin a row of veggie seedlings. It’s so difficult to toss them away after I’ve babied them along. I feel like I’m wasting food too. The combination leaves me feeling guilty and sad, like I’ve committed a gardening felony. 

What To Do With Extra Seedlings

Before I knew any better, which really wasn’t all that long ago, I used to dump the extra seedlings from thinning rows into the compost bin. Now I do know better. 

The extra seedlings from any greens I’m growing — beets, carrots, radishes, cauliflower and broccoli, peas, squash, and cucumbers — often make their way into the evenings tossed salad. Some are also delish on a sandwich!

For some reason this “save the seedling” mentally didn’t bleed into saving seedlings from the herbs, sunflowers, or nasturtiums I grow. Again, I don’t know why, I just never thought about it but all are edible seedlings as well. 

Now the seedlings I eat are generally the micro-seedlings — still tiny. If I end up with too many larger seedlings, likely because I was too chicken to do a proper thinning, I give them to my neighbor, mother, and sister at which point they really are young plants ready to stand on their own and produce, well, produce.