This simple technique helps start everything except carrots and parsnips (which must have completely loose soil to develop correctly).  All the gardener must do is intentionally compress the soil below the seeds and then cover the seeds with a mulch of loose, dry soil.  Sprouting seeds then rest atop damp soil exactly they lie on a damp blotter in a germination laboratory’s covered petri dish.  This dampness will not disappear before the sprouting seedling has propelled a root several inches farther down and is putting a leaf into the sunlight.

I’ve used several techniques to reestablish capillarity after tilling.  There’s a wise old plastic push planter in my garage that first compacts the tilled earth with its front wheel, cuts a furrow, drops the seed, and then with its drag chain pulls loose soil over the furrow.  I’ve also pulled one wheel of a garden cart or pushed a lightly loaded wheelbarrow down the row to press down a wheel track, sprinkled seed on that compacted furrow, and then pulled loose soil over it.

Handmade Footprints

Sometimes I sow large brassicas and cucurbits in clumps above a fertilized, double-dug spot.  First, in a space about 18 inches square, I deeply dig in complete organic fertilizer.  Then with my fist I punch down a depression in the center of the fluffed-up mound.  Sometimes my fist goes in so easily that I have to replace a little more soil and punch it down some more.  The purpose is not to make rammed earth or cement, but only to reestablish capillarity by having firm soil under a shallow, fist-sized depression.  Then a pinch of seed is sprinkled atop this depression and covered with fine earth.  Even if several hot sunny days follow I get good germination without watering.  This same technique works excellently on hills of squash, melon and cucumber as well, though these large-seeded species must be planted quite a bit deeper.

Summer:  How to Fluid Drill Seeds

Soaking seeds before sowing is another water-wise technique, especially useful later in the season.  At bedtime, place the seeds in a half-pint mason jar, cover with a square of plastic window screen held on with a strong rubber band, soak the seeds overnight, and then drain them first thing in the morning.  Gently rinse the seeds with cool water two or three times daily until the root tips begin to emerge.  As soon as this sign appears, the seed must be sown, because the newly emerging roots become increasingly subject to breaking off as they develop and soon form tangled masses.  Presprouted seeds may be gently blended into some crumbly, moist soil and this mixture gently sprinkled into a furrow and covered.  If the sprouts are particularly delicate or, as with carrots, you want a very uniform stand, disperse the seeds in a starch gelatin and imitate what commercial vegetable growers call fluid drilling.