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Commercial seed tape.

Many gardeners find seed tape very practical. It’s thin biodegradable paper tape on which vegetable or flower seeds have been glued, already at the recommended spacing for the future development of the plant.

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Sowing commercial seed tape.

At sowing time, simply a trace a furrow at the desired depth (it will vary depending on the crop), place the tape in the furrow, cover it with soil and water. The seedlings will pop up just where you want them to.

The problem, though, is that seed tapes costs a lot more than loose seed. But not if you make your own seed tape.

How It’s Done

Make your seed tape in advance, perhaps on a rainy day. If you have kids at home, make it a family project.

You’ll need a length of toilet paper as long as the rows in your garden.

Cut it into 1 to 2 inch (2.5 to 5 cm) strips. With a pencil and a ruler, mark the future location of the seeds (3 inches/7.5 cm for beets, 2 inches/5 cm for carrots, etc.) on the paper. You’ll find the recommended spacing for each variety on its seed packet.

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Making your own seed tape.

Now mix together a spoonful of flour and an equal quantity of water to make biodegradable glue. With a coffee stirrer or a cotton swab, apply a drop of glue to each pencil mark and place a seed on it. Now just fold the toilet paper in half and let dry.

You now have home-made seed tape you can use in your vegetable or flower garden.

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Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

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