Gardens

Seed spoons

img

Efficient tiny seed planting

In the course of years of gardening, I have tried a variety of tools to help you plant seeds. Most wound up gathering dust in a drawer. Seed spoons are my go-to device for small garden seed planting (several row feet, or a flat or two at a time).

Basically, it’s a set of two double-ended spoons with a different-sized cup on each end (4 cup sizes in all). As the catalog copy says, you stick the spoon into a pile of seeds and come up with one seed at a time. The narrow-pointed end helps you place it precisely where you want it.

It’s wonderful for planting carrots, or flats of veggie seed. It only takes a minute or two to find the appropriate size spoon for the seed you’re planting. I scoop up a seed, set it where I want it, and push it into the planting medium with the back of the spoon.

I find them especially useful for planting carrot seeds, which is an exercise in anal retentive frustration. A packet of carrot seed goes twice as far and there’s much less thinning needed. There are no special tips to lose, and the one at a time planting method is a huge saving on seed. They pay for themselves in just a few plantings.

-- Amy Thomson 01/22/14

© 2022