- First, it was the cheapest good model I could find.
- Second, it came highly recommended by Eliot Coleman, who is something of an expert in small-scale market gardening.
- Third, it makes nice straight rows, depending on how well I steer it. This is crucial to efficient weeding. When my rows are all in a line, I can slice a hoe down the row without stopping and without nicking any plants.
- Fourth, it has a next-row marker. This lets me keep two rows totally parallel, which is again important to efficient weeding.
With this new seeder, I was able to plant out two beds of peas in about 2 minutes. If I was seeding by hand, it probably would have taken 30 minutes. Admittedly, there is a little bit of setup and breakdown time, but the seeder is so well designed that from the moment I decided to plant peas until the moment I was sitting back down on the couch with Lily watching Land Before Time was about 40 minutes. That includes changing clothes twice, setting up and filling the seeder, broadcasting my organic fertilizer blend over each bed, chopping in the fertilizer, fixing up some overlapping cardboard, doing the actual seeding, gently watering in the seeds, and cleaning up afterwards.
As I was walking back home across the street, I thought to myself, "This farming thing ain't so hard."
