Spinach seeds in a paper towel

I read about this trick in one of my Zade's garden books (Author: Dick Raymond).  I have generally had bad luck germinating spinach in the ground and in seed starter packs, however this method has worked twice now.

Here is the process:

1. Get a paper towel wet
2. Wing it out almost completely and then spread out the seeds.
3. Fold up the paper towel (I do kind of a 2 inch roll/fold), and press against the towel so that the seeds make good contact.  
4. Put the paper towel into a zip lock bag, and let it sit out at room temp, or whatever the correct germination temperature is for the seed you are trying to germinate.  

For the spinach seeds, I sowed about 40 seeds on the 19th.  Four days later about 15 had germinated and I sowed them into the garden (about 1/2 inch deep).  Three days after that another 10 seeds were ready to go into the ground.   About 15 seeds never germinated, even after a few more days.

Just a note: When sown 1/2 inch down, I noticed the spinach break the ground about 2-3 days after it was sown.  This is much quicker than if I sowed it directly in the ground.