Make Seed Tape for Easy Seed Sowing

Seed tape is a carrot planter’s best friend. Carrot seeds are miniscule and notoriously dramatic about germinating. If they don’t have everything just right, with conditions just how they like it- psshh forget it. You may as well plant something else. OR switch to using this seed tape.

Planting with seed tape offers a few excellent benefits:

1. Perfect spacing. Seed tape allows you to space the carrot seeds at the ideal distance recommended on the seed packet.
2. No need to thin. By sowing the carrot seeds at the ideal spacing, it removes the need to thin. I repeat. It removes the need to thin tiny carrot seedlings. Cue happy gardener dance.
3. Less seed waste. This project uses fewer seeds because you aren’t overplanting and losing them to thinning/animals/carrot drama in general.
4. Make ahead. This makes a great winter activity because you can make these seed tapes in advance and roll them up and store them for later.
5. Works with all kinds of small seeds. This isn’t limited to just carrots! Herb seeds (hello nearly invisible basil seeds), flowers, and lettuce seeds are all ideal for this project.

Convinced, yet? Ready to come to the dark (easier) side of planting small seeds? Let’s do it.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

• 2 ply toilet paper
• a marker
• a toothpick (or chopstick/skewer/paintbrush)
• seeds
• flour and water paste or craft glue

Why toilet paper? It decomposes in the soil quickly and easily and is the least expensive option for this project. You can use paper towels or even party streamers if you have them stuffed in some forgotten party box. The length of toilet paper you need depends on your planting area, so adjust accordingly.

Make it:

First, use a marker to dot along the paper where the seeds will go. The back of your seed packet will tell you how far apart to thin the seeds, and we’re skipping ahead to that distance right from the start because we won’t be thinning these seedlings.

After I marked where the seeds would go, I pulled apart the toilet paper. Now we have two sheets ready to use! A word of caution: the sharpie may bleed through the paper to the surface underneath, so place something like cardboard under the toilet paper to protect your work surface.

Mix a small amount of flour and water together to make a consistency similar to craft glue. Take your flour and water paste and use a toothpick (or paintbrush/chopstick) to dot some glue on top of each dot.

Next, add 1-2 carrot seeds per glue spot.

After placing the seeds, gently lift your seed tape and hang to dry. I just draped them over the back of a chair. It took about an hour for the seed tape to dry.

Once dry, you can (carefully) roll these up and store them to plant later, or you can head out to the garden and plant them, which is what I did.

To plant the seed tape, first prepare your soil. I scratched in some organic vegetable fertilizer and placed the seed tape right on top of the soil. Next, I covered it with soil and watered it well.

If you’re planting carrots, keep them consistently watered to help them germinate well. Let me know if you give this project a try!!

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DIY Seed Tape

This easy and inexpensive gardening "hack" makes planting tiny seeds easier than ever while saving you from wasting seeds and having to thin seedlings!

Total Time1 hour hr

Keyword: DIY

Author: Trish

Materials

• toilet paper 2-ply
• sharpie marker
• toothpick or paintbrush or chopstick
• seeds
• craft glue or flour + water paste

Instructions

• Measure the length of your planting space to determine the length of the toilet paper you'll need to make the seed tape.
• Mix a small amount of flour and water together to form a glue-like consistency. I used about 2 tsps each.
• Consult seed packet for recommended spacing. Use the spacing recommended for thinning the plants. Using the sharpie, mark that distance on the toilet paper. You may wish to place cardboard under your toilet paper so the sharpie doesn't bleed through to the surface underneath.
• Use the toothpick (or paintbrush/chopstick) to place some of the flour + water "glue" on top of each sharpie marker dot.
• Add 1-2 seeds per dot of glue.
• Allow seed tape to dry. You can then label and roll up the seed tape to store, or plant right away!
• To plant the seed tape, first prepare your garden soil. Then place the seed tape on soil, and cover with soil according to the seed packet. Carrots only need a thin layer. Water well. Enjoy!