there are a lot of retailers selling seed tapes, but not of the varieties that you want, so you will have to make your own. Typically seed tapes are marketed to new gardeners, who are less concerned with the more exotic varieties you list. Most retail tapes are seeded too densely, IMO, and will still require a lot of thinning. Why are you having trouble keeping straight rows? Why are straight rows important? What are you using for containers? Seed tapes are expensive to buy and labor intensive to make. There may be a better way. Here is a link that might be useful: Home-made seed tapes.

Thanks. I use the dining table because it's the easiest to clean up. I tried doing this project once on cardboard, but the glue just makes a mess everywhere. I know us wives HATE our kitchen tables to be used for messy projects, but a moist paper towel in between seed-strips cleans perfectly, leaving no trace of the glue or pen behind! :)

Wendy, I have made them and it is easy. Use newspaper because it will dissolve easily in the soil. For a natural paste, mix a little all-purpose flour with water. Using only the newspaper sheets (not the glossy supplements like coupons, etc.), cut or tear the paper into 1" wide strips. You can leave them the length of the newspaper sheet or glue them together to make longer tapes. Make a thin paste by adding water a little at a time to about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. Don't make too much paste ahead of time as it may stiffen up. You want the paste to be just thick enough to coat the seeds. If it is too runny, it will drip off and if it is too thick it won't dry quickly enough. You want it to be about the consistency of white cream gravy. Lay out your strips of paper on a flat surface. Place a single row of seeds on each strip, spacing them as far apart as directed on the seed packet. Place just a drop of your paste on top of each seed. You can use a spoon, toothpick, etc. to drop the paste onto each seed...whatever you have handy. Some people put a strip of paper on top of the bottom strip containing the seeds, but I don't because I think it impedes germination. Let your seed tapes dry thoroughly. If you don't, the flour paste may mold. Once dry, roll up the tapes gently with the seed on the inside of the roll. Place in labeled zip-lock bags. To prevent moisture from affecting the seeds and their ability to germinate, wrap up a tablespoon or two of salt or powdered milk in a paper towel, tape it shut, and put it into the zip lock bag with the seeds. When it is time to plant, prepare your soil. Lay down the tapes on the ground. (This works best on a non-windy day.) I like to spray a little water onto the tapes using a spray bottle or the fine rosette of a watering can BEFORE I cover them with soil. Then, after covering the seed tapes with soil and patting it down firmly, I gently water the seed bed again. Remember that the seeds need good soil moisture AND good soil contact in order to germinate. Your seeds will germinate just fine and the newspaper will decompose fairly quickly and enrich your soil. That's it....as easy as it can be! Dawn

Soaking seeds prior to planting not only speeds up germination, but also give you higher germination rates. However, some seed needs to soak 12 to 24 hours while other seeds (peas and beans) are higher in protein and absorb water quite easily and should be soaked for only 2 to 4 hours. Some seed is easy to pre-soak and other seed is not, depending mostly on its' size, but also on how pre-soaking affects the seed. In general, pre-soaking will help almost any seed sprout more quickly. However, very tiny seeds clump together when wet, so pre-soaking makes them very hard to handle and plant. You can get around this by soaking them for a while and then letting them dry on a paper coffee filter or paper towel for a little while(but not until they are completely dried out, obviously). Some of the excess moisture will drain off, making the tiny seeds easier to handle, but the seeds still will be damp when planting. I often base a decision on whether to pre-soak seed on what kind of soil it is going to be planted in. If the ground is heavily saturated, I am less likely to pre-soak seed. If the soil temperatures are less than 50 degrees, I am less likely to soak seed of cool-season crops (those that you can plant prior to the last frost). If the soil temperatures are less than 65 degrees, I am less likely to soak seed of warm-season crops UNLESS the soil is very, very dry. If the seeds are going into heavier, slower-draining clay soil AND the soil is wet, I don't pre-soak that seed because seeds rot more quickly in heavy, wet soil. Deciding whether or not to pre-soak seed is more of an art than a science. You just have to try it and see what works best with YOUR soil and YOUR temperatures. Over time you will find that pre-soaking seed often improves the speed with which SOME seeds sprout under certain conditions. Keep notes of what seed you soak, how long it is soaked, whether it was planted in soil that was wet or dry, warm or cool, and how quickly it sprouted. Note also if you had great, average or poor germination. These notes will be helpful next year when you're preparing to plant your spring garden. For the very tiny seeds that stick together when wet, making and using your own seed tapes like Mary mentioned above is one way to get them planted and spaced properly. They work best if you spritz the seed tapes with water (I use a squirt bottle) before you cover them with soil, and then water the soil well once the seed tapes are covered. If the soil is very dry and the paper seed tapes stay dry, the seed will germinate more slowly than if it is wet. We had a thread on making your own seed tapes a couple of months ago (and, we actually have at least a couple of threads on this topic every year). I've linked it below in case you haven't seen it before. If you have questions about specific veggie types you're planting, post your planting list and other gardeners can tell you if they pre-soak those specific seeds or not. Finally, pre-soaking seed generally is a beneficial practice, but only if you are planting the seed at the right time and under the right conditions for it. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Making Your Own Seed Tapes