Gardening: How to Make DIY Seed Tape

A homemade seed tape is a strip of newspaper that your flower or vegetable seeds are glued to. This allows you to plant perfect straight lines in your garden and they are also perfect for containers and borders. Seed tapes allow you to maximize your growing area and get the spacing right on your plants every time. They make growing almost anything easier especially carrots, chives and flowers.

Step One: Cut out strips of newspaper about two inches wide and two feet long. It works best to make these in smaller strips and then cut the last strip into the exact length you need for your garden space but you can make them as long or as wide as you want.

Step Two: Make a paste out of flour and water. Mix a little of both together until it forms the consistency of a thin glue. Use a small brush or cotton swab as an applicator.

Step Three: Place your seeds in a bowl and get some tweezers if they are too small and hard to pick up.

Step Four: Lay out one strip on newspaper in front of you. Use a tape measure and mark dots where you want to place your seeds. Look at the seed packet for recommendations on spacing.

Step Five: Place a seed on top of the marked dot on the paper and use your applicator to dot some paste onto it. The paste acts as a glue holding the seeds in place. Do not use regular glue. If the seeds won't stick then make your paste thicker by adding more flour.

Step Six: Repeat step 5 until all your seeds have been glued in place. Let the seed tapes dry completely and then store in a dry area. I placed a book on top of mine to keep the paper from curling.

Step Seven: When its time to plant your garden lay out the seed tape where you want your flowers or vegetables to grow. Then cover with a thin top layer of soil. Look at your seed packet for the specific amount your seeds need to germinate.

Step Eight. Water according to your plants preference and grow as you normally would. The seeds will come up in perfectly straight lines exactly where you placed the seed tape. The newspaper will be kept in place as it deteriorates becoming mulch which is good for your garden.

If you want to be creative try mixing different seeds onto one seed tape or when planting your garden alternate strips of different kinds of flowers. Under supervision this is also a great project for children to help make.