Last weekend, my friend and I were at Home Depot picking up bags of Quikrete. He was helping me reinstall my clothesline after a tornado went through my yard in March and yanked it out of the ground. We decided to check out the plants, as he built a terrace garden at his place recently and was looking for vegetable starts to put in it.
As someone who always grows their own seedlings, I’m slightly dubious about vegetable seedlings sold at big box stores to begin with.
But this year, I was dumbfounded by what I saw. As we walked around the tall carts, looking for peppers and tomatoes to grow, I found a number of plants that make for terrible transplants. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes.
Now, any experienced gardener will likely look at these offerings and laugh and leave them where they belong – right there on the cart. But beginner gardeners with less experience may unknowingly bring home plants that, once transplanted into their garden, will more than likely die.
And why not? If those plants are being sold as vegetable starts right along with your tomatoes, peppers, cukes and the like, why wouldn’t you assume these plants can be transplanted as well?
At first, I thought it was funny, but then I found the little planter filled to the brim with carrot seedlings, and I just got angry.
Gardening is hard enough as it is without being gaslit into thinking you did something wrong because your transplants that were never meant to be transplanted didn’t survive.
So, I’m here with a warning for gardeners, new and experienced. If you see these plants for sale at your local big box store, don’t buy them. And let the newer gardeners in your life know not to buy them either.
1. Corn
Corn is a classic example of a plant that should never be sold as a transplant. It’s actually a type of grass and has a very shallow, fibrous root system. Once it germinates, those roots set up house fast as a way of anchoring the plant. So if you disturb those roots, you’re messing with its ability to establish itself in the ground properly. This inevitably leads to a stunted, poor-growing plant and weak, underdeveloped ears of corn. That is, if it doesn’t just up and die.
Corn is easy to start the right way – by direct sowing after your last frost date. Wait until the soil has warmed up to at least 60°F. Plant the seeds 1 inch deep and 4–6 inches apart in blocks, not rows. This will help give you much better pollination, which means full cobs just ready to be smothered in butter.
2. Carrots
This one actually made me furious. A 6” wide and 6” deep planter completely packed with tiny carrot seedlings. (That they clearly forgot to water.) Even if you thinned them out, the container is too shallow for the carrots to develop properly. You’re paying $10 for what? Four or five stunted carrots?
Carrots should never be sold as seedlings. The very part we want to eat – the long, tender taproot – is established soon after the seed germinates. And like most root vegetables, it does not like having that taproot disturbed. They are notoriously hard to transplant (probably because they aren’t meant to be) and almost always end up dying. If a few do survive, the taproot ends up twisted and stunted.
Instead of buying those cute little pots of doomed baby carrots, just direct sow your seeds in the spring. Carrots are slow to germinate, so make sure you keep the soil moist and carefully thin out seedlings once they emerge. Don’t worry about spacing them perfectly at first—focus on getting them in the ground, then thinning to give them space to grow. You’ll end up with crisp, sweet carrots that grow true to form.
3. Green Beans
Beans, whether they’re bush beans, pole beans, or any other variety, are another plant that can’t stand being transplanted. They have a super quick growth cycle, meaning they quickly establish their root systems right away. They like staying where they germinate, so if you pull them out of their cozy pots and poke them in the ground, you will have disgruntled beans.
While they will often survive, the transplant causes stunted growth and unnecessary delays in fruiting, all of which can be avoided simply by direct sowing them. Wait until the soil warms to 60 degrees. Sow them 1 inch deep and 2-4” apart in rows 2-3’ apart. Learn to grow them here.
4. Dill
Dill, the herb that makes pickles, salmon and eggs remarkable, is also highly sensitive to transplanting. Like carrots and cilantro, dill has a taproot that establishes itself early on, and any disruption during transplanting can result in a dead plant or a plant that bolts early and goes directly to seed.
The solution is simple: direct sow dill seeds in full sun after your last frost date. Keep the soil evenly moist and thin the seedlings once they emerge. Dill is a fast-growing herb that prefers to stay in the ground it’s sown in rather than being messed with. Plus, it’s so easy to grow directly that you’ll never miss buying those overpriced little packs of dill at the store.
5. Cilantro
I’m one of those weirdos who like Cilantro, so I can tell you that if you look at it sideways, it bolts. Cilantro is another herb that throws a fit when you try to transplant it. Like dill, cilantro has a fragile taproot that doesn’t respond well to being moved. Not only does this make it difficult to establish in the garden, but it also leads to bolting (when the plant goes to seed prematurely) and leaves that turn bitter.
So, instead of grabbing cilantro seedlings, you should always direct sow cilantro seeds into your garden bed early in the spring or in the fall if you live in a warmer climate. Cilantro likes the soil to be moist and cool, so sow it thickly and thin it out as it grows. I prefer to harvest your cilantro while it’s still young and succession plant more seeds every other week for the best flavor. You know, for a plant that reputedly tastes like soap.
Not Cool, Bro
Before we go, I want to address the real issue here – misleading consumers and setting up beginner gardeners for failure. Not only is it kind of crappy, it’s wasteful. Gardening should be enjoyable. It already comes with enough built-in challenges without a large corporation making it harder.
If you’re new to gardening, there’s a lot to learn, and hopefully, you don’t run into scenarios like this often. Luckily, you’re joining an enthusiastic community. Ask questions of the gardeners in your life. I have yet to meet a gardener who wasn’t tickled pink to talk about gardening. Or there’s an amazing gardening website called Rural Sprout, where you can get answers.
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