Maria is really tasty and probably one of the best.
Regardless of the variety, when buying seed
make sure you aren't buying old seed. Always look to make sure it's not last years seed. I usually buy a pound at a time and start planting earlier than I should and continue planting every 2 weeks. A lot of time the early stuff doesn't make it but when it does
I also don't keep left over seed, I've had bad luck with it not germinating.
While we're on the topic...
I use a push planter (
Cole, Shure Grow) now, before that an Earthway (junk) and I've had a few Brinly and Sears (David Bradley) planters as well. The Brinly and sears planters were nice but I prefer the Cole planter, it's got a large front wheel and seems to be more consistent.
Before having a planter I used to plant by hand and there's two easy ways of doing that.
I made a planting stick from a piece of PVC tubing and the bottom of a jug. I wound then walk along and push the seed into the tube, much easier than bending over and the seed always went to where it was supposed to go. I still use this for planting other things.
The other way is more time consuming but works well. I took cheap toilet paper (not used) and cut it into narrow strips. I then used a dab of Elmers glue to glue a kernel every couple sheets. It makes for nice straight rows and only takes a few minutes to plant, but gluing the seed took for ever. This was OK since it was still snowing outside and I got to do a little gardening.