How to Make Your Own DIY Garden Seed Tape — I was walking through Canadian Tire heading to the garden center. I always like to check the seed racks to see if there is anything new I want to try growing.
Why Not Make Your Own Garden Seed Tape, It’s Easy
This day I found a seed rack that had seed packages which were strips of thick tissue paper tape filled with seeds. Each seed was already spaced for me and looked like a pretty cool idea, wish I had thought of it.
I decided to buy a few of them and picked out the ones that had small seeds as I find those the hardest to get spaced correctly without wasting them or losing them as they are too tiny for my old eyes.
The first packages I bought were onions and the other radishes. I didn’t use them all so I still have some left. This will give me a template on how I should proceed in order to create my own diy garden seed tape.
I used most of the onion garden seed tape but there is enough left for you to see how they look. The strip was a long strip but was perforated along the center line so I could break it into to separate long strips.
Here is a sample of the radish tape opened up so you can see how it works.
Which Seeds Give Me The Most Trouble?
Well like I said I have trouble with the tiny seeds and usually end up scattering them where I don’t want them. A few of these are onions, radishes, lettuce, and carrots. But pretty much any seeds can be put on tissue paper to make garden seed tape. The thing I like the most about this is getting the seeds the right distance apart and putting them at the right depth.
Try Making Seed Tape Yourself (DIY Garden Seed Tape)
Not only can you make garden seed tape yourself, it’s a great project to get the kids involved in as well. Most kids love DIY garden seed tape projects as long as they are fun. It’s a great project for a cold winter night when no one wants to be outdoors.
DIY Garden Seed Tape, What’s Required??
You don’t need much for this but for certain you need your garden seeds, without them you’re DIY garden seed tape project isn’t going to work very well, but you knew that didn’t you. So besides the seeds:
- You’ll need scissors
- As well as ruler and marker
- Paper to make the tape, like tissue paper, paper towels or any thin paper that has no coloured in.
Note: avoid glossy paper as it usually has coloured ink but it also takes longer to break down and a bit harder for the seeds to break free of.
- Flour paste to stick your tape together
- Q-Tips to spread the flour paste
Must Read:
- Cut the paper into strips about an inch wide and make them as long as you want.
- Check the seed pack to see how far the seed should be apart from each other.
- Use your ruler and marker to mark the distance between seeds.
- Mark the paper so that you know the depth to plant it later.
- Place a seed at each mark.
- Apply your flour paste along one edge and fold the paper over to cover the top of the seeds.
- Press firmly so both edges are glued together and you’re done.
These are all items that we have in our house as most people do, except for the seeds. You may have to take a trip to the garden center for them.
Once you have all the items mentioned above you’re ready to start making your diy garden seed tape.”
Cut the paper into long strips between a half and one inch wide. I used toilet paper for my first garden seed tape because it’s perforated so that I can break up the tape into specific lengths. Depending on the thickness of the tissue you use you may have to fold it to make it a little thicker.
Next I take my seed pack to see what the seed spacing should be and use my ruler and marker to tick off each seed’s location. So easy a child can do and they should be, right.
Be sure to mark each tape strip you make so you remember what seeds you used. You will also want to mark the depth they should be planted at. Not that I’ve ever forgotten to do that.
As the last step you need to apply the wet the flour or cornstarch to use it as your glue and then apply it with your Q-Tip. That’s it. Wasn’t that fun and easy?
Must Read:
Planting Your Garden Seed Tape
Planting it simple, just check each garden seed tape to see the planting depth and plant them at the right depth and then give them a little spray of water to moisten the paper and seeds, cover them and give them another spray.
Instead of taking twenty minutes to plant my onions and lettuce I did it in a couple of minutes using the garden seed tape and never lost a seed and never dropped 5 instead of 1 seed at a time.
