Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Homemaking Tip - Seeds&Things


Mother Nature threw us a bone.  She gave us two days of 60 degree weather and I not only went coat-less, but Calvin almost went vest-less, and we both got garden fever.  

Last night Calvin planted Big Jim chile pepper and tomato seeds in starter trays . . .  



. . . while I made seed tape.




We bought seed tape for the first time a few years ago.  If you plant in windy weather and the seeds scatter when you plant, or if you get tired of having crowded, intertwined carrots you would probably love seed tape.  But, seed tape is expensive, hard to find, and has a very small selection.   So I read on the internet how to make our own.

1.  Roll out ten feet of toilet paper.  Fold and cut in half lengthwise.

2.  Put a dot of white glue (colored glue would make it easier to see) wherever you want a seed (for carrots it's 1/2 inch space between seeds)

3.  Place the seed on the dot of glue.

4.  Let the glue dry and then roll the toilet paper strip and put it in a baggie with planting instructions.

5.  Store in a cool, dry place until you're ready to plant.

Be warned, making seed tape is time consuming.  Suddenly it doesn't seem so expensive when you see how long it takes to make your own, but choosing your variety makes it worthwhile even if the cost doesn't.  I've still got a lot of seed tape to make (lettuce, flowers, etc.) so I'll listen to a book on tape while I do.

This afternoon I planted an herb pot with chives and cilantro.  Now that the dining room is rearranged, I think there is a spot with enough sun to keep the plants alive until the herbs in the garden are ready.

If Mother Nature will just throw us another bone we'll start raking, burning, mowing, cutting, and pruning.  


7 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been planning to make seed tape and hadn't gotten around to it yet. Maybe tonight will be the night. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Making seed tapes sounds a lot like thine stoning costumes! How funny!!

melanie said...

Seed tape would come in handy for me if I ever plant a garden again (Reed begs me every day). My version of 'sow thinly' with a row of carrots was WAY off. As in, I had a row of carrots growing an inch wide. Oops! You have the best garden. So glad you were thrown a good weather bone.

Amie said...

I wish I loved gardening. I love when other people garden and share with me. I think I would prefer making seed tape in the house to dealing with the dirt. I just don't love to be dirty.

I'm very intrigued by the tape though, I may have to look into that.

Brenda Goodrich said...

I'm sorry that your post didn't inspire a desire to make seed tape:) I'm a "thin them even though you're killing them" kind of gal. However, your post did bring to mind the fresh chives that are poking out of my garden soil........and the fresh pile of dog pooh on every single clump of chives. Hmmmm. Appetizing, it's not! Perhaps planting my chives in pot would fix the problem, eh?

Brenda Goodrich said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jill said...

Genius!