WSing is not supposed to stress you out, just try to use only a few seeds. There are WSers who don't worry much about containers which are heavily sowed. They will wait for "the green wave" and then plant out hunks of seedlings (HOS). Good luck, Ann

I use a newborn spoon to lift out as few seeds as possible from the envelope/ziploc baggie, then just sprinkle them over the surface of the growing medium. Another idea might be to use a clean, recycled pepper shaker and shake a small dusting of seeds over the growing medium. As kmpsmom point out, don't stress over it. I WS poppies last year and just let Ma Nature thin out any weak ones when I planted out the seedlings. She's better at it than I am so I really don't mind stepping aside and letting her do what she does best.

I empty the seed into my left hand, then "pinch" the seed with my right thumb and index finger,and sprinkle them,when they sprout, I am always amazed at how even they are spaced,if I want a lot in a container, I use the same method,only I over sprinkle,works good for me.
Breath,this should be fun for you, there is no right, or wrong way to sow your seed.Enjoy.
cAROL

oh not stressing at all just always looking for a better method...i see seed sowers in these magazines all the time and wonder how good they really work.

Seed sowers in magazines - aren't they just trying to sell you something you don't need? Commercial growers probably use machines to sow the seeds one/a few at a time but with winter sowing, seeds are normally so abundant, we don't sweat over sowing a few too many. With larger seeds I use tweezers to place them in the containers. The rest get sprinkled.

What amazes me is the smallest seeds are sometimes from the biggest plants, like foxglove, St. John's wort and butterfly bush seeds that are tiny as dust motes but the plants are quite large.

That's what I discovered today, gardenweed. I planted some veronicastrum seeds, the plants get six foot tall or better, but the seeds were smaller than a grain of salt, almost powder. I dumped them into the palm of my hand, took a pinch, and sprinkled them all around inside the jug. Teeny tinies like those don't get covered with soil.

Karen

Those seed sowers definitely do not work. Last year, I thought I was sowing three alyssum seeds at a time (it worked in my hand) but when they came up, each hole had at least thirty sprouts. This was the needle puncher looking thing. It needed to be held at a precise angle and very carefully punched which I did not do by the end of it. I've been enticed by the round adjustable kind, but I heard they are useless for the tiniest seeds which is the whole reason you'd want one in the first place.

I love that pepper shaker idea. I may try that. I've got loads of 'em.

the pepper shaker idea was a good one i have to agree.

For ws small seeds, not the dusty types, I pour a few out on a blank white sheet of paper then take a small piece of paper and pick up one seed at a time to place where I want it in the container. I only do this if I have a limited amount of the small seed.

If I have lots of a specific small seed I will pinch and roll off my finger or sprinkle into the container and plant out as HOS.

I like the small piece of paper because I don't have to store or search for it. Just tear off a piece of paper.
Quick and easy.

For most I just sprinkle on the surface and don't worry about spaceing. Then I just cut the resulting chia pet into hunks and plant those out.

If I have few precious seeds, or expensive pelleted ones that I want to space well, I do one of the following
a. dump into my left hand. Pick up one or two at a time with my fingernail of right index finger, and drop singly onto potting mix.
-or-
b. use seed spoons. They work great.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: seed spoons