Updated Aug. 01, 2024
This ingenious tool provides a simple way to plant seeds with optimal spacing for vegetables to flourish. Here's our expert Seeding Square review.
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I’ve always admired a tidy garden, likely because mine is not. Similarly to most gardeners, I have difficulty spacing seeds to optimize garden space. It’s easy to plant too close together or waste precious room by spacing seeds too far apart. For me, seed spacing has always been a guesstimate, and it never occurred to me to use a ruler or take the time to plot out a grid. Luckily, I found Seeding Square. This handy product takes the guesswork out of planting vegetable and flower seeds or plants with color-coded holes as your measuring guide.
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Seeding Square is by far the easiest way to plant seeds. This colorful, plastic square-foot template guides seed spacing for the best results. The square has color-coded holes and a user-friendly chart to tell you which color to use for a particular seed. It’s ideal for maximizing small-space gardens and raised beds, or can be used directly on the ground. It may look like a toy, but it’s a sophisticated measuring tool.
This clever kit is invaluable for beginners and experienced gardeners alike. It includes a dibber wand to poke holes in the soil with an integrated ruler for planting at the perfect depth. The best part is that the top of the wand has a little scoop to grab seeds out of the package. Revolutionary! Seeding Square has cut-out handles for easy operation and an attachable funnel that guides the seeds into the hole if needed.
The best feature of Seeding Square is its simplicity. It’s well designed and easy to use. I love the three-in-one poking wand with its ruler and scoop, and wish I had this little tool years ago. Plus, the magnetized dibber wand snaps into the square for slim storage.
The planting guide is well planned and an invaluable tool for newbie gardeners, kids and people with disabilities. The four-color planting guide includes pictures and is easy to understand. Just look for what you want to plant and poke the holes with the same color. Although Seeding Square is weatherproof, I’ll be protecting my beloved planting guide with a weighted sleeve so it doesn’t blow away.
By August, my onions were ready to harvest, and space opened in my garden to plant a fall crop, and my choice was beets. Rabbits devoured the spring planting, and I was determined to start anew, only this time I would fence it in. I was excited to try my new Seeding Square, because planting beets can be challenging.
My yard slopes, my plots aren’t level and I had weeds, so I had some work ahead of me. First, I removed the weeds and added compost to my tired soil, then I leveled the playing field with a rake. I set the square down and started poking the red holes in the seeding square, as directed in the planting guide. This would reportedly yield 16 beets per square foot.
After poking holes in the soil, I scooped a few seeds out of the packet and dropped them in. I trusted they would land in the holes and found the funnel unnecessary. Once I filled all 16 holes with seeds, I moved the square, poked the soil again and dropped the seeds into the new holes. In the past, I’d use my finger to poke a hole, then I’d get dirt in the seed packet while trying to fish out new seeds. Or I’d sprinkle a few in my hand, and they’d inevitably scatter and eventually end up in low spots.
With Seeding Square, I planted 8 square feet of beets in the available space. In some cases, more than one seed fell into the hole. Since the seeds were a few years old, I didn’t anticipate a high germination rate. If all the seeds germinate, I’ll have 128 beets in a little 2-foot-by-4-foot plot.
I planted until the sun went down and rain was on the way. I smoothed out the soil by hand to cover the seeds and gave it a little pat down. In the next few days, I sprinkled the plot twice a day to keep the soil moist enough to germinate the seeds. A few days later, the seeds began to sprout.
Start in the corner of your garden plot and press the square into the soil. It will leave an imprint for a visual reference of 1 square foot. First, determine which seed to plant, then find the corresponding color hole from the planting guide chart. Next, poke every hole with the same color according to the seed depth requirements. Use the ruler on the poking wand as your depth guide, and drop seeds into each hole you’ve made. Lastly, move the square to the next space and repeat the process. After all the seeds are planted, cover the holes with soil, tamp them down and gently water the area and keep the soil moist (not drenched) to germinate the seeds.
Seeding Square is also useful as a planting guide for seedlings. So if you’ve started seeds indoors or bought plants from a nursery, you’re in luck. Just use the template to find the correct spacing for the plant, poke a hole and know exactly where to dig. Easy-peasy! Seeding Square is useful for planting flower seeds and flowering plants, too.
As I’ve witnessed with my fellow community gardeners, square-foot gardening utilizes space efficiently, but more importantly, your yield will be more bountiful. Aesthetically, square-foot gardening is beautiful and organized, and Seeding Square takes the tedium out of precision measuring and planning. A side benefit that every gardener will appreciate is that weeds are less likely to take over.
As a veteran gardener, I look for practical solutions for problems (like ensuring the proper spacing for planting seeds). Gardening is time-consuming, so I love trying new gardening tools and recommending what I find exceptionally useful, meaning anything that will make gardening faster, easier or more enjoyable.
Product durability is important to me, as is design and ease of use. But the most important criterion I use to judge products is if the gadget works well to solve a problem—and Seeding Square has made my list of must-have items.
From over 6,000 ratings on Amazon, Seeding Square earned an average of 4.7 out of five stars.
“This tool has saved me countless headaches trying to plant my spring garden,” writes Dana Ellis, a five-star reviewer. “Not only is it sturdy, but the color-coding system is super easy and foolproof. My beans are growing in perfectly spaced, straight rows. My broccoli has just the right amount of elbow room. It thrills me to look out at my garden plants and visually see the organization. The attached tools are handy, especially the poking tool with depth measurement.”
“Excellent for gardeners that are disabled,” shares verified purchaser, George. “The biggest advantage of this product is its ease of use. As a person with a brain injury, my fingers don’t quite work like they used to, so the dibber and the funnel to pour the seeds in is extremely handy when using small seeds, such as lettuce or carrots.”
Tracy Bennett, a verified buyer, says, ”This is such a help in planting my raised beds! I have a tendency to underplant or overcrowd and this took the guesswork out of it. I never would have imagined how many things I could put in the bed without worrying I messed it up in spacing! The veggies are color coded per hole and the measuring stick helps with planting depths per seed. And, bonus, the soil indention of the square gives the eye a footprint of what you have already planted as you go!”
As a life-long gardener, I couldn’t be more impressed with the thought that went into Seeding Square. The simplistic design is ingenious, and the color-coded chart is fantastic. The planting guide is intuitive and easy to read, making the entire process fast and fun. It saves time and takes the hassle out of planning, measuring and handling tiny seeds.
I can’t wait to use Seeding Square next spring, and it will be a useful reference guide when designing my gardens in February. This sturdy gadget will likely be a favorite gardening companion for many years, and I look forward to having a tidy, well-spaced and beautiful garden.
The bottom line? I highly recommend Seeding Square for an easy way to plant a tidy and abundant garden, no matter if you’re experienced or not.
You can purchase Seeding Square on Amazon for $30. When it’s time to plant, you’ll be happy that you have this ingenious tool ready to go. Prepare for a flourishing, aesthetically pleasing garden!
Originally Published: August 31, 2023
