Thin those sprouting seeds. Serve the thinning as micro-greens!

Beets are one of the most important crops to thin. They usually sprout with more than one seedling. All root crops need room to grow right. Photos by Doug Oster Tribune-Review

These little plants need thinned and boy will they be tasty.

A packet of seeds only costs a few dollars and it’s a great way to get plants started right in the garden. It’s also the only way to find certain varieties. There’s something wonderful about seeing a little seed germinate and come to fruition in just a season.

I love taking a whole packet of seeds and spreading them on a bed of black compost. A lot of times that means buying a couples bags of the black gold and throwing it down on garden bed, followed by the seeds.

Instead of “properly” spacing greens like lettuce, arugula, mustard and others, it forms a carpet of the plants, but they still need thinned. One reason I do this is I don’t need another half packet of seeds, I’ve got 100 in the basement now.

Root crops like beets, radishes and carrots are the most important things to thin. They won’t form a good sized root unless they have room to breathe.

The thinnings are used in salads as something called micro-greens. They are highly nutritious, sweet and tender.

In the case of beets, radishes and carrots, the whole plant makes a great tasting addition to any meal after a quick rinse of water.

These radish thinnings are tasty and good for you too.

This is a job that gets us close to our plants, I’ll do it as needed, sometimes three or four times as the plants grow and I love nibbling on what I pull out of the soil.

Have some fun and grow something different from seed. Golden beets, cool radishes and a rainbow of colored carrots all make the garden a interesting place to be.

A packet of seeds can have hundreds of plants. Why not use them all in a salad, one way or another.