Homemade Seed Mats

I am not a gardener by any means, but in church we are often taught how to plant our own gardens easily to save money and be more self-reliant, among other projects. While I may not garden myself, I did plant a garden for my grandma once, and hated planting those itty bitty lettuce seeds since I was always afraid to plant too many then have them wash away. Well, here is how to make your own seed mat to prevent this from happening, courtesy of yet another project learned in church.

You need Elmer's glue, a marker, your seeds, and a napkin. Lay the napkin flat (unfold it) and mark the areas you need to place the seeds with the marker so you can evenly space your seeds (pretend that the napkin is the actual soil you are going to plant in- mark the spots on the napkin according to the space you need in between each seed). Place a tiny dot of glue to each dot you've made on the napkin, then lick your finger and use your wet finger to pick up a tiny seed you need for planting. Stick the seed into the dot of glue, and Voila! Instant seed mat!

After you have completed your seed mat, you can now plant the seed mat by just lightly placing dirt over the mat to hold it flat, then putting the amount of dirt needed for planting on top. Water it as directed, and your seeds will stay put, the napkin will break up in the soil, and the glue won't affect the seed from growing at all. Perfect for those stupid tiny seeds like lettuce, carrots, and all that other stuff that is hard to plant without washing away!

Bonus- no digging in the soil required, a perfect planting project for young children, since you can make the seeds a craft and all you need is a shovel- you won't get your hands dirty! Yay! I haven't tried this yet but I think I will as there is plenty of time left in the season and I really do love homegrown lettuce.

Source:

church project