How to Sow Tiny Seeds Evenly

Bean, pea and sunflower seeds seem absolutely gargantuan in comparison to teensy tiny lettuce, basil and poppy seeds. These tiny seeds present a particular set of planting challenges. First, it’s nearly impossible to pick up a single seed and plant it. If you do succeed at this task, you’ll notice that the little seeds immediately blend right in with the soil, making it difficult to sow seed evenly or in a straight line. Gardeners also have a tendency to bury little seeds with too much soil, which results in low or uneven germination. Seed companies sell special seed sowing tools, but you don’t need to shell out the cash for a tool that you’ll only use to plant a few crops. Instead, you can evenly sow seed using a time-honored seed-starting trick: mixing small seeds with sand. Here is how.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sand

1. If planting seeds in the garden, be sure to thoroughly weed the area, remove any old crop debris and rake the soil until it is smooth, crumbly and free of rocks or clods. Help the seeds settle in and stay in place by moistening the soil prior to planting.

2. When sowing seeds in a container, fill the container with a high-quality potting mix to within 1 or 2 inches of the top. Then, premoisten the potting soil by watering it until you see a stream of water seep out the bottom. This step eliminates the problem of dry potting soil floating up (and carrying your carefully placed seeds to a new location) the first time you water the container in.

3. Place one cup of sand into a bowl. Then empty a seed packet into the sand and mix until the seeds are evenly distributed within the sand.

4. In the garden, spread the seed and sand mixture out in a 2-inch-wide by 2 to 3-foot-long band. In hot climates, you may want to dust an extremely fine layer (about 1/8 inch) of compost over the band of seeds to prevent them from drying out as quickly.

5. Good soil to seed contact is essential for optimal germination. Ensure good contact by pressing the band of seeds into the soil with the palm of your hand. Watering also helps nestle the seeds into the soil, but a classic gardening mistake is to water newly planted seeds with too strong of a stream of water. This results in floating the seeds up out of their neat rows and into a clump. Avoid this problem by turning the hose on away from the row, adjusting the pressure to a fine, gentle spray, and then watering the seeds in.

6. Little seeds dry out very quickly, so stay on top of watering until you see signs of germination. Continue to keep the soil evenly moist after the seedlings pop up, and don’t forget to thin the plants according to the directions on the seed packet.

Resources

• DigginFood

[krm479]

on 3/13/2009 Right on target about how not to let the seeds float away! Great idea with the sand too!

[Willi]

on 2/29/2008 Hi, Barbara. I haven't started birds of paradise from seed myself, but I did a little research and it seems that the best way to propagate the plants is to divide the plant's rhizomes because plants grown from seed can take 4 years or more to bloom. With your seeds, you will need to scarify them (remove a little of the hard seed coat so water can get in) by filing off the outermost layer of the seed coat. Then plant the seeds in moist seed starting mix and cover with a plastic dome to keep the humidity high. Place the tray on a seed starting heat mat to heat the soil up to 75 degrees. When the seeds germinate, move them under lights.

[barbarakantz]

on 2/17/2008 Willi, I just purchased many seeds from ebay and hope to start them in the house as houseplants, but others will go outside in the summer. I have bird of paradise seeds but need to know EXACTLY how to plant them to get them to germinate. Can you help me with that? I can't seem to find instructions on "how to" for seed planting indoors. Thanks a bunch b.kantz