Varomorus Precision Seeder: Durable Metal Vegetable Planter for Efficient Garden Sowing - Ideal for Greens, Beets, Carrots, Onions, for Gardens, Greenhouses, Open Fields, W/Out Handle

I've always thought this type of seeder was only for people doing very large gardens and farms, and I'm sure the larger multi-row products from Varomorus wouldn't work for me, but this small one is a fantastic size for my 48' x 52' fenced garden space.My garden plan has been to clear trees and brush as I am able, then build temporary two-foot-wide long raised beds out of scrap lumber with paths in between. I plant into those beds, working on building up the soil on top of my dreadful clay and letting the worms and other soil life start breaking up the soil underneath. Then, when the boards start rotting away, I just pull them up and am left with raised rows of rich soil...for which a seeder like this is great. It's also good for throwing out a bunch of seeds into cleared areas I haven't gotten around to adding beds to (i.e., ground that I may not be expecting much out of yet), either cover crops or legumes or other ground covers that can be breaking up that clay and adding biomass.But not only is this seeder good for seeding rows (and the raised beds, if you plan things right), it maneuvers well between stepping stones and along curved edges of flower beds, so you can seed in edging plants and steppable groundcovers using it. I love this seeder! And it's built like a tank...Just a heads up: I was confused at first when I pulled it out of the box because it looked like it was "made wrong": the part that you stick your own pole into was facing in the wrong direction, as shown in the photo. But, duh, then I started thinking like maybe a farmer would and realized they'd screwed it on upside down so they could pack it more neatly into a smaller box, and all you have to do is loosen the screw and rotate it around the right way! LOL!

You do get a small selection of seed wheels with different sizes and spacing with the planter, and you can order additional including blanks from the manufacturer for a fairly low cost, so I am puzzled why they didn’t include a couple customizable seed wheels with the kit to assure it could met anyone’s specific needs.It is a pain to change wheels as you have to remove several bolts which are somewhat difficult to get to with some tools to disassemble the entire axle, and the choice of wheel is very specific to the seed size you have so you will have to change as you plant different size seeds or with different spacing. Round seed works best, like okra. I was unable to successfully use it for corn, beans, squash, or any other large irregular shaped seed.The handle connector - and a handle is NOT included - is impossible to tighten and keep straight while using. I even added star lock washers and tightened beyond reason and it would still twist under pressure of pulling through the soil, it is inexplicable that they didn’t connect with two bolts to keep it in line without a single pivot point. Back to the handle, good luck finding one that fits, I have no idea what their specs are for one, I ended up using a piece of bamboo and selecting one that had an appropriate diameter.As I mentioned, the seed selection wheel is very dependent on the seed and some trial and error, or perhaps experience is needed. With and each attempt a full disassembly of the axle to remove and replace the wheel followed by adjusting things like the brush and ejection plate. In addition the soil needs to be soft, loamy, and loose. Yiu won’t be pulling this through any hard packed soil as there are no cutting edges to penetrate the soil. But this creates another problem, in loose soil the wheels tend to slide across the surface and not rotate to place seeds.In the end if you have one specific crop that you need to plant more than reasonable by hand, but less than a larger farm implement, and can tweak everything including soil to get it working well, this may be worthwhile, otherwise it will like not be a successful endeavor.

I got this precision seeder from the framers store since I find it difficult to manually plant small seeds. I always tend to plant more seeds in an area without leaving enough space between seeds. This seeder is made of metal, so it will last a long time. It arrived with the handle mount placed in the opposite direction for transportation, and only after reading the instructions I realized the handle needs to be unscrewed and placed back properly. One needs to change the drum to the corresponding size needed. The drums are all black, and it is hard to distinguish immediately between the drum types, unless one counts the number of holes. I wish the drums were color-coded. To change the drum, one needs to unscrew and screw back some component, which is not hard, but it takes some time. Overall, I am pleased with this seeder and I would recommend it to a friend!

This planter is completely built from steel, all of the parts are easy to use and clean. It performed its planting job perfectly.