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Some of the earliest seeds that we can plant directly into the garden are also some of the smallest. I’m thinking of carrots, radish, beets, lettuce, and spinach. As soon as the ground becomes workable, you can begin sowing these seeds directly into your garden.
A normal practice for sowing seeds is to overseed your row and then thin to the proper spacing once the seedlings grow a couple of inches tall. With tiny seeds that is much easier than trying to sow individual seeds at correct spacings, like we might do with larger seeds such as beans or peas. But that does add the extra step of thinning out seedlings and means we’re essentially throwing away seeds.
Something we can use to make direct sowing easier is seed tape or a seed mat. Seed tape and seed mats have seeds properly spaced out on a biodegradable material so that you can simply lay the tape/mat down in the garden and bury to the appropriate depth. Seed tapes are used for planting rows, and seed mats are used for covering a small area, such as for square foot gardening.
You can purchase seed tape and seed mats from many different seed companies, but it is also easy enough to make your own! This is a great activity to do in the chilly and/or rainy early days of spring so planting time will go that much quicker when we are able to get outside and work in the ground! The best part is that you probably have everything you need at home to make seed tape or seed mats already, unless you haven’t done your seed shopping just yet.
Making seed tapes/mats is great for all gardeners, of all ages and abilities. It’s perfect for gardeners who simply just want to save time and seeds, it’s perfect for gardeners who may want or need to limit the amount of time they spend working on the ground, and it’s perfect for kids who tend to have a hard time sowing individual seeds. The first time I made seed tape it was as a kids’ activity to help little fingers plant little seeds, and the tape material was actually made from… toilet paper! Now given the current situation, toilet paper is a little too valuable so we’re going to modify and use newspaper, but toilet paper makes great seed tapes as well!
Here’s how you can try it at home!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Seeds – this is meant for tiny seeds rather than large seeds like beans or peas
- Newspaper or sale ads (non glossy), toilet paper, or paper napkins
- Flour
- Water
- Toothpick
- Tape measure or ruler
- Pen, pencil, marker, etc.
A Few Notes:
- If using toilet paper, place a few extra dots of paste along the long edge and then fold the other half of the toilet paper on top to encase the seeds.
- My carrot seeds are a couple years old so I placed a few seeds in each spot to accommodate for lower germination rate. I might have to do some thinning if germination rates are high.