Repurpose Old Salt And Pepper Shakers To Easily Plant Small Seeds

Growing your own food or flowers from seed is a rewarding experience, especially once the first evidence of a new sprout pops up through the soil. If you're growing more than a couple of the same plant, proper spacing is important so they have room to grow and thrive. Thankfully, most seed packets provide all the details needed for ideal growing conditions. When it comes to tiny seeds, a handy kitchen staple — such as an old salt or pepper shaker — can make spacing them much easier.

Seeds that are somewhat large, such as virtually any sunflower variety, are simple to space since the seeds are large enough to hold between your finger and thumb and press them into the soil exactly where you want them. Smaller seeds such as carrots, lettuce, snapdragons, or a wildflower seed mix are so tiny they're hard to handle with any degree of accuracy. It's easy to spill the seeds when pouring them into your hand, for instance, and good luck finding them all after that. When pouring them out of your hand or directly from the packet into a garden plot or starter pot, it's nearly impossible to pour the right amount of seeds out in one place. Loads of seeds may spill out into the same square inch of soil, which results in plant overcrowding if even half of them sprout. And this is where those salt and pepper shakers come into play.

Alongside your spare shakers, the only other thing you'll need is a garden-friendly filler to pair with the seeds. (And while you're in the mood for upcycling items from the kitchen, you can repurpose mason jars to make unique bird feeders.)

Since every salt and pepper shaker set seems to have different hole size, first make sure the small seeds you wish to plant will fit through the shaker top. This is easiest by unscrewing the lid, pouring some of the seeds directly into it, then shaking it out over a bowl to catch the seeds. If you can't find an appropriate salt or pepper shaker, a visit to a thrift store will likely be successful, or you could use an empty spice jar with a shaker top, as long as the holes are relatively small. Don't use a jar with wide holes in the shaker top, such as crushed red pepper flakes, or too many seeds may come out at once. Once you've found a suitable shaker or spice jar to repurpose, wash it and its shaker top, then dry them thoroughly. 

Place about 2 teaspoons of clean sand such as play sand into the shaker if working with one packet of small seeds. Don't use sand picked up off the beach or a sand pile since there may be contaminants that aren't good for the garden soil. The goal is a mixture that's about 1 part seeds to 4 parts sand.  Add your seeds, then swirl the shaker around a bit to blend them with the sand. Shake the seed mixture in the desired area of the garden or even in a large planter. As an added bonus, the sand makes it easier to see where you've added seed so you can tell if you missed a spot when planting a large area. Plus, these small seeds can be sown on top of soil, like grass seed. Sand is also good for the soil; topdressing your lawn with sand is the key to gorgeous grass in areas with poor drainage.