How to direct plant tiny seeds

How do you direct seed things like herbs and tiny seeds? How much mulch can you cover them with? I need to plant asap! 😬

This is a tough one. I usually sow carefully (or get impatient and just throw them down) on the soil, then water it in. No need to cover as the watering will do it for you. If you want to mulch you'll have to wait until they're established plants

If they are really difficult plants to germinate or really small seeds, I pull back the mulch and sprinkle them directly on top of the soil and apply some pressure or pat them in to get good soil contact which seems to help a lot with germination.

Each variety of plant seems to have its own preffered germination environment, more hot or cold, or moist or dry, and I found https://www.westcoastseeds.com/ to have a lot of good information when I was looking for this info recently.

Some difficult to root plants supposedly need light to germinate also, which is another reason I sprinkle them on the surface of the soil. Hope you have lots of baby plants soon!

I like planting in long trays, found it to sprout seeds sooner and en masse. I have a sowing table on which i work, so i stand comfortably and remain patient while spreading tiny seeds equally over the surface of the tray. If they’re tiny i poor out in my left hand and hold it as a reservoir then pinch a bunch between finger and thumb, moving over the tray in 8 shapes all the time moving my fingers, dropping little seeds. Compact the soil afterwards. Water as carefull as possible so the tiny seeds don’t get flushed down into the soil too m deep.If they’re tiny it means they have no energy reserve, they get leaves and immediately need to get sunlight. They have no energy to grow up from deep under ground. The bigger the seed, the deeper it can go. I harvest seeds to have an abundance the next year, so i can be less fiddly about them.

My strategy for planting tiny seeds goes something like this:

1- plant the day before rainy weather is expeced.

2- scatter seeds in a row directly on top of the soil.

3- walk along the row, scuffing my feet over it.

4- walk along the row several more times, stomping fiercely.

5- After seeds have germinated, run a hoe along the the row, to eliminate seedlings that aren't in nice tidy rows.

Most of the seeds I plant are very, very small.  The method I have come up with that works best for me is to use a clean, dry spice jar with holes just a little bigger than the seeds.

I usually look at how deep to plant which is usually 1/8 inch.  First, I use a starter mix which usually has perlite and some wood bits.  I use a strainer to strain these out because I don't want them to smother the tiny seeds. So I shake the jar over the area I want to plant. Then, I shake the strainer over the area until I feel I have the correct depth.  I water from the bottom and use a spray bottle to wet the top.  It is important to keep the seeds sprayed to keep the soil moist.

I use this method for planting indoors or outdoors.