wrote in
:

Peter James wrote:
I have arthritis of the spine/neck and getting down to soil level is
difficult. When I need to sow seed I tend to rush the job, because it
hurts to bend, and consequently the seed is sown thickly.

In the case of my carrots, they are twisted and small because of
this, and also because I cover them up with fleece to keep the carrot
fly off them and thinning and weeding is not possible.

So can anyone advise me if the garden hand held seed drills I have
seen advertised are any good?

I have to admit, I'm rubbish with carrots for the same reason, except
mine is due to being lazy rather than having a medical excuse.

I know you can buy carrot seed on tape, so they are spaced
appoximately correctly before laying the whole tape, which
disintegrates, then the seeds are in the right place. I suspect that
this isn't economical.

But it sounds like a job which could be done whilst stood at a counter
- open a packet, spread out a length of tape, space the seeds out onto
the tape, then plant a strip. The question is - would it work on
normal 'sellotape' plastic tape, or does it have to be something taht
can disintegrate? I remember using sticky paper tape in art class,
was it masking tape? Would that work, I wonder?

Time for me to experiment next spring, I think ...


That sounds like a great idea vicky, and I am sure this would work for
other small seeds too. Cabbage etc. parsnip(which blow away because of
their paperish shroud)

Masking tape sounds fine, it is after all just paper.

You know that sticky licky stuff that is around the shops at Christmas
would fit the task. It comes in rolls I think.

Going on to Peter James's origional question, I have seen somewhere on the
internet that disabled gardeners use plastic pipe to sow seeds. The pipe
can easily be bought from any D.I.Y store such as Wickes.
The gardener sits in their wheel chair and dibs a hole with a peice of
stick then puts the bottom end of the pipe into the hole and drops a seed
in from the top.
Of course this would only work for bigger seeds because unless the pipe is
completely dry, carrot seed for example would stick to the pipe, so the
tape idea is good.

Baz