You can sow your seeds directly into the garden using easy-to-plant seed strips.
Seed companies Ferry-Morse, Park Seeds, Amber’s Garden and Suttons Seeds sell seed tapes, circle mats and flower mats with evenly-spaced seeds embedded in a biodegradable paper ready to plant in the ground or a container.
Simply lay the strips, circles or mats on the ground or in the container where you want the plants to grow. You can plant these in straight rows or make elaborate designs. Then cover with a thin layer of soil (1/4- to 1/2-inch) and water well. As the paper becomes moist, it germinates the seeds and shoots begin pushing into the soil. The paper eventually dissolves.
The result is plants where you want them with no thinning, double planting, measuring, or hole digging. An added bonus is birds can’t eat the seeds, and rains won’t ruin the even spacing or wash away the seeds.
You can make your own strips using toilet tissue (5 sheets long is easy to work with). Cut the tissue into one-inch wide strips, lay the strips on a table and mark the seed spacing suggested on the seed package. Put a small spot of water-soluble school glue at each mark then place a seed on the glue. Let dry before using. This works great with small seeds like carrots and radishes.