How to Make Seed Tape
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Seed tape has become increasingly popular in the last few years, and it’s easy to see why. Just lay it out on your garden bed, and your seeds are perfectly spaced – even those teeny tiny ones that are so hard to work with.
The only real downside to seed tape is that it costs more than a pack of seeds, and comes with fewer seeds. Happily those are easy problems to dodge, if you’re willing to make your own (which is just what I do).
Want to make your own seed tape, too? Here’s how it’s done.
How to Make Seed Tape
What You’ll Need:
Seeds
Newspaper
Flour
Water
A small bowl
A spoon
Scissors
What You Do:
Add a bit of water to some flour to make a thick paste. This is just like the paste that you’d use for papier mache.
Then, cut a newspaper into one-inch wide strips. If you’re a square-foot gardener, I recommend making your strip 12-inches long. This will save you time when you’re planting.
Label your strips with the type of seed that you’ll be using.
Then, make a dot everywhere a seed needs to go (refer to the seed packet for proper spacing). Radishes are supposed to be spaced one-inch apart, so I made a mark every inch.
Apply a dot of paste to each spot that you marked. You can use the back of a pen or your finger to do this.
Then, press a seed into each paste dot, and allow your seed tape to dry.
Plant your seed tape out in the garden, or roll it up and store it in a plastic bag until you’re ready to plant. The newspaper and flour will biodegrade over time, without causing any harm to the seeds.
Seed Tape Tips:
- Make your seed tape over the winter, so you’ll be ready to plant in the spring
- Use seed tape for your carrots, lettuce and other tiny seeds
- Get your kids interested in gardening by getting them involved in the making and planting of your seed tape
More Seed Planting Time-Savers
Nice!
Great idea, I will try this technic shortly. Thanks abunch.
Great idea. I hate thinning. This will be a helpful item for my grandchildren to make this summer. I’ll use them in the fall garden.
How many inches for planting cantaloupe?
I saved the seeds from a cantaloupe I bought last year. I want to make a seed tape from your newsletter.
Is there a way I can print your suggestions?
Thanks.
Doris
Hi Doris, I recommend planting one cantaloupe seed per square foot. They need a lot of room to do their thing, so, they probably aren’t the best candidate for seed tape. If you want to print instructions for the seed tape, just choose the print option from your browser menu at the top of your screen. That won’t give you the prettiest results, but we’re working on a more print-friendly format. Stay tuned for that 🙂
Hello Erin…curious, I have seen other articles saying to use toilet paper (instead of newspaper) other than environmental (I would use environmentally friendly tp) is there a reason you use newspaper? Have you tried the other? Thoughts? tx
I mostly use newspaper because it’s sturdy, and won’t fall apart when you apply the flour paste mixture. Maybe try both, and see which you prefer.
Thank you…great suggestion.