Definitely get a soft, smooth soil bed BEFORE using the Earthway. I've found that it doesn't like cloddy ground.

After getting a smooth, soft bed, the Earthway does a wonderful job especially with the small seeds. I find that I can plant the larger seeds faster by hand.

Marla

We luv our 2 earthway planters. They do peas and beans good and just about everything else . Make sure your soil is soft and smooth or planter will drag seeds.

My parents bought my first Earthway back in the 70s, They loved it. By the time that I got that one, it had planted 1000s of seeds, parents kept a larger garden. For me, I had learned to plant the peas/beans and such in wide rows, and I could narrowly sow the seeds faster than using the Earthway, plus I didn't need to have a smooth area. I actually used a KY cultivator, and put a bag across the handles, push the cultivator aways, plant the seeds, push more, seed more until the end of the row. Then just turn around and push the cultivator back throwing dirt over the seeds. If I had someone helping, they would push the cultivator and I'd seed, and it worked faster.

But with small seeds like radishes, lettuce, spinach and such, the Earthway is the best way, as long as you can get a smooth surface.

One thing I did to help with my Earthway was to add elasticed bowl covers over the seed holder, just in case the seeds would 'pop'. Plus I took 3 Earthways and joined them to make a 3 row planter. Works good, I just need to add some weights over the top of the wheels to make sure that all of the wheels turn.

Marla

My Earthway works great in my primary garden, which does not have rocks because we've picked them year after year, but it does not work in the new garden plot behind the barn because it is loaded with rocks of all sizes; the Earthway bounces all over when it hits a substantial rock. Rocks should be removed anyway because they will dull your hoe blades, get caught in your tiller tines, etc. It's definitely faster and easier to get a tool like a hoe through soil without rocks, and of course root crops definitely benefit from rock-free soil.

Rocks are my best crop, I line the pathways with them. I can see that I will be working the beds a lot more before I plant. I have been putting on weight and need the exercise, but busting rocks is not my favorite chore. I use a screen to filter them out. We live about 1/2 mile from the river and this area used to be under a glacier, so it's nice river rock. Thanks for the advise on that, if I know what problems I am gonna have ahead of time I don't get so frustrated.