Gardening

#32 · Mark rows for planting

Press chopsticks into the soil as row markers before sowing seeds so you know exactly where everything is.

Straight rows are not vanity. They make hoeing faster, they let you tell a seedling from a weed at a glance, and they make sense of a bed you come back to in three weeks having forgotten what you did. Two chopsticks and a length of string give you the same garden line professional growers use.

How to do it

1. Push one chopstick in firmly at each end of the intended row.
2. Tie string between them, pulled taut and sitting just above the soil surface.
3. Draw a shallow drill by running a cane or the edge of a hoe along the line.
4. Sow along the drill, cover, and firm gently.
5. Move the whole line over by one row spacing and repeat.
6. Leave one chopstick in at the row end as a marker once the string comes up.

Why it works

A taut line is straight regardless of what the ground underneath is doing - it's the oldest surveying tool there is. Sighting by eye across a bed reliably produces a curve, because you correct against the previous row rather than against a true reference.

Tips & warnings

• Tape a strip of masking tape near the top of each chopstick and write the crop and date on it.
• Bright string is much easier to see against dark soil than natural twine.
• For bulbs in autumn, the same line gives you borders that look deliberate in spring.