Let me introduce you. Moving from top to bottom in the photo above, you have an expanded metal roller that tamps the soil. This roller is adjusted up or down with the black knobs on each end, depending on how deeply the seed is to be sown. Then there are a row of six hoppers where the seed goes. Under the hoppers an axle with exactly spaced holes, which can be shifted to and fro to accommodate a variety of seed sizes. I’ve pulled the axle out in the photo below, and you can see two sets of holes. There are four of each size hole, so each time the axle does a full turn, four seeds are dropped.
Today I’m sowing rocket and spinach. For the rocket, I use the smallest hole in the axle, and fill all six hoppers. You can also see the perspex cover that prevents light seed from blowing away, or dirt from getting into the hoppers.
Once the seeder is set up and the bed is prepared, the handle is fitted to the seeder, and the whole shebang is pushed down the bed. The handle is offset so you can push as you walk beside the bed. In the photo below I have completed one pass. You can see the six furrows behind the seeder, as well as the fine tilth of the bed.
I tip the excess seed back into the bag via the handy flange, and move on to the spinach
Below, in a planting of ‘Hakurei’ Japanese turnips, you can see the exceptional bed coverage that can be achieved with the six-row seeder. This panorama is five metres long, the width of a bed (800mm), and shows 12 rows of turnips.