By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

I’m definitely taken with Sharon’s blog about using string for sowing seed. But I’ve got my own favorite method. Try them both and use the one that works best for you.

Assuming you already have the seed and some sifted, slightly packed soil in which to plant, all you need is a flat dish, a glass of water, and a throw-away wooden chopstick—the kind you get with Chinese food at a supermarket deli. (Cheap chopsticks are best because their unfinished surfaces are just porous enough to absorb a little water.)

Scatter the seed in the dish, dip the end of the chopstick in water for a few seconds (the idea is to let it soak up some moisture), shake off the droplet, then touch the damp end of the chopstick to a single seed. It will stick. Poke the seed-bearing chopstick into the soil, twist it to release the seed, and you’re ready for the next one. I don't firm the soil over the seed until I'm done: the chopstick holes show me exactly where I've planted.

You don't have to remoisten the chopstick every time: it holds enough water to keep it working for several seeds. This only works with very small seeds, by the way—but that's ok, because the big ones (like sunflower seeds) are easy enough to handle with your fingers.

After you've planted a few seeds this way you fall into a very fast, accurate rhythm, and before you know it, the job is done.