Topic: Difficulties in sowing thinly

[petefj]

I've just got back from my allotment where I went to pick the vegetables for Sunday lunch.  I was disappointed with my carrots, as they weren't sown thinly enough and they're small and stunted.  I cover them when sown with fleece to keep the fly off, and thus I can't thin them out.

The problem is I have arthritis of the spine/neck and getting down to soil level is painful, and when I do try I tend to do the job quickly and thus the seed is not sown thinly enough.

I have seen advertisements for hand held seed drills, and if they work OK might be the solution to my problem.

Has anyone on this forum had experience with such a tool?

Peter

[goodlife]

I've only used one type once..that was with big seeds like peas.
Carrot seeds being so tiny..I really wonder if any sort of seed drill would really work.. :-\
How about using seedtapes for your carrots?..those are less fiddly.

[pumkinlover]

I've seen people mix seeds in with sand.. but not tried it :-\
my carrrots are in baths now - thanks to A4A- which helps with carrot root fly and not have to bend as much.
I've got a very small seed sower from Wilko's it would be cheap enough to buy and try.

[Kleftiwallah]

This is what you do.  .  .  .

grab a foot or so of tubing used for fish tanks, snip the un-inked end bit off the end of a biro refill, insert the biro tube into the fishtank tube filling out any difference in diameter with cellotape leaving about an inch of biro tube protruding.

Go to the haberdashers and buy some bias bindind.  Wash the binding and allow to dry in case any starch affects the growing seed.  Scatter seeds in a saucer and hold open the fold in the bias binding with  i.e. a book at each end.

JOB FOR A WET DAY,      Suck up a seed and drop it inside the bias binding fold every couple of inches, allow the bias binding to fold back and grip the seed.

Don't blow the seed into the binding as moisture from your breath will stick the next seed sucked up, just allow the seed to drop into the required position.

Planting time lay the tapes in a shallow trench and cover.


Easy Peasy.     ::)     Cheers,   ;D   Tony.

[Deb P]

Or you could just buy some seed tapes or even better pelleted carrot seed from Franchi, big packets of seeds, great value. I have been using them for the past two years and have had nothing but success since starting to use them.


http://seedsofitaly.co.uk/catalogue/35

[manicscousers]

we grow all our carrots in 18"tall beds now, about the same width, means I can sit on my fishing stool to sow. I have arthritis in the same places as you (among others), my hands are very stiff so I pour a few seeds into my right hand and use my (slightly less stiff) left hand to thinly sow them, only way I can do it  :)
never tried the seed tapes or a seed sowing tool, let us know how you get on

[aj]

Or grow in small square beds rather than rows, broadcast sow and don't thin, just rake in and water. Cover with fleece over a hoop and leave them be until harvest time.

I do this and I haven't got arthritis, saves hours.

[pg]

Sow in rows evenly without bending down - how about combining the idea of pumpkinlover of mxing seeds with dry sand (or other inert compound) to assist handling and a slightly less fiddly take on kleftiwallah's tube device?

I'm think filling an old sock/stocking with the sand/seed mixture, then make a hole in the end and dribble along. I'm thinking similar to the 'Great Escape' idea, dribble mixture along whle standing up.

Just a thought?

[telboy]

I agree with aj. There was a similar tip earlier (this?) year. I thinly broadcast over a 1' wide strip/light rake & watered.
Best results ever & no messing with drills.
 8)

[chriscross1966]

THis year I successfully started all my carrots (an dI've got loads and had tons already) by sowing three or four seeds per module into 24-cell module trays with a toilet-roll tube shoved in each one.... plant out when the plants are about 4-5" tall and you can put them in deepish pots or in a bed in the ground....  Always had problems (like yours in fact) with sowing carrots direct, sowing them at my normal potting bench has been a big help.... you plant them with a dibber....

[Russell]

Somebody on A4A mentioned broadcasting for carrot seed a couple of years ago and I have found it brilliantly successful at getting my carrot seeds to emerge. Unfortunately it is also successful in getting weed seeds to emerge and they all have to be hand-pulled, because hoes only work with rows.
I mix my seed with horticultural sharp sand and scatter using an old washing up liquid squeezy bottle.

[GrannieAnnie]

THis year I successfully started all my carrots (an dI've got loads and had tons already) by sowing three or four seeds per module into 24-cell module trays with a toilet-roll tube shoved in each one.... plant out when the plants are about 4-5" tall and you can put them in deepish pots or in a bed in the ground....  Always had problems (like yours in fact) with sowing carrots direct, sowing them at my normal potting bench has been a big help.... you plant them with a dibber....

DO YOU FILL THE TUBES WITH SOIL FIRST AND PLANT SEEDS ON TOP OF THE FILLED TUBE, THE TRAY ONLY ACTING AS A SUPPORT OR FLOORING?

[pg]

I mix my seed with horticultural sharp sand and scatter using an old washing up liquid squeezy bottle.

What a great and simple and cheap idea. Could also be used to squeeze the mix along rows?

[antipodes]

Another trick is to mix some radish seed in with the carrots and mix the whole lot with sand. Radishes come up quickly and you pull them, leaving plenty of space for carrots.

[Fayzie]

A tip I saw in one of the gardening magazine was to use single ply kitchen roll cut into long strips, mix cornflour with water till a paste in formed the put a small drop of that on the kitchen roll then place the seed on top.  You can then just put the kitchen roll along the trench and it saves having to thing out.  Means it can be done at the kitchen table first!!

I used this for the first time this year in my potted garden and it was so simple and produced well.

[elhuerto]

I'm a recent convert to using toilet roll holders, similar to the Chriscross method above. Worked very well for carrots, parsnips and sweetcorn this year - might try starting off peas in them next year.

[Sparkly]

I have a metre rule with holes drilled in at set intervals then just put a small pinch of seed in each hole?

[GrannieAnnie]

THis year I successfully started all my carrots (an dI've got loads and had tons already) by sowing three or four seeds per module into 24-cell module trays with a toilet-roll tube shoved in each one.... plant out when the plants are about 4-5" tall and you can put them in deepish pots or in a bed in the ground....  Always had problems (like yours in fact) with sowing carrots direct, sowing them at my normal potting bench has been a big help.... you plant them with a dibber....

DO YOU FILL THE TUBES WITH SOIL FIRST AND PLANT SEEDS ON TOP OF THE FILLED TUBE, THE TRAY ONLY ACTING AS A SUPPORT OR FLOORING?

oh I see from later postings it is same as I've done for parsnips. which worked.