Making your own seed tape is a great way to ensure ideal spacing between seedlings, and it’s a fun project for the kids to do. My garden carrots are my kid’s favorite each and every year. Since they are so prized, I have set myself to learning the new tricks of making my own seed tape and getting a better carrot harvest every fall. Many of my tricks are super simple and easy to do with stuff you already have in your home right now! It’s SO easy that I just did it with two kids, one of which was on rollerblades and the other was holding a boomerang. No kidding.
You need:
- Roll of toilet paper. Single or double ply, really doesn’t matter.
- Sticking agent. In this case the only one I had with a pour tip was my agave nectar – I have made it with honey, or even maple syrup in a pinch.
- Ruler
- Chopstick or skewer
- Seeds!
Directions:
- Lay out your toilet paper in a strip down a long surface like a table or counter.
- Put down a thin line of your sticking agent along one half of the toilet paper.
- Place the ruler close to your row and use your chopstick or skewer to lift out one seed at a time
- from the packet, placing them every inch along your sticky line. (as pictured below).
{I used a ton more than I would normally so you could see it better.}
- After you are done placing the seeds, fold over the toilet paper, making a sandwich over the sticky bit and the seeds.
- At this point, you can allow them to dry completely and store them in an air tight container in the fridge. Or you can plant immediately.
{I had my son plant them in the garden right away.}
- Lay your finished tape on the surface of the dirt, and put dirt over the top of it until lightly covered.
{My daughter (while still on her rollerblades) watering them in.}
- Water them well. It helps get the seeds started and the toilet paper to break down.
Perfectly spaced carrot seedlings:
A couple tips:
#1: Most of my seeds do not get made into seed tape. Many seeds like beans and peas are easy to distance as you plant them in the garden. But seeds like carrots and parsley are hard to handle because they are SO tiny. The usual way of growing them is to thin them once they have all come up. I don’t like to thin seedlings. So I save my seed tape skills for those seeds I would otherwise have to thin out later.
#2: I have found that one seed per inch is just about perfect to get a nice big carrot and not have them be crowded at all. If any of them do not sprout, just add one seed where they hole is and you will have beautiful, well spaced carrots!
#3: At the same time you plant your carrot tape, sprinkle spinach seeds over the top. Spinach and carrots are natural garden companions. Spinach grows much faster than carrots and its roots break up the soil for the slower growing carrots. The carrots then mature and take over the space as the spinach dies off. It’s a good way to get two harvests from the same small space!
