Carrots, yo.
The vegetable I absolutely love to pick...and kinda hate to plant.
It wasn't always this way. It used to be that I'd blissfully (and pretty haphazardly) sprinkle those teensy little seeds all over my impeccably prepared raised garden bed. As thickly as the seedlings would come up (having been so liberally and haphazardly sown) I'd need to spend a lot of time carefully thinning them out so they'd have adequate space to grow. And that was fine by me. Hours in the sun thinning seedlings. My idea of a happy summer afternoon!
But these days, with two small kids, and almost 6,000 square feet of gardens to tend, I don't have time to painstakingly thin out carrot seedlings - which means I can't haphazardly sow those tiny seeds like I used to. I need to pay a little more attention to my planting methods and get them spaced correctly the first time.
"That seems simple enough", you say. One would think.
And really, it could be. But carefully planting teensy tiny carrot seeds during the middle of black fly season, while trying to get as many rows planted as humanly possible during naptime, is not my favorite.
This year, I'm trying a different strategy. SEED TAPE.
The idea behind seed tape is that it's the most geniusly speedy way to plant anything ever. You just lay the thin, papery tape down in your garden bed, cover lightly with soil, and voila! Your row is planted, and the seeds embedded in the tape are perfectly spaced. And you have time leftover to take a shower before naptime is over!
The catch? It's outrageously expensive stuff.
The solution? Make. My. Own.
INSIDE. Before planting season even starts, before black flies are even a thing, and not even during naptime...because this is a fun project for little helping hands! DIY seed tape is super easy - and it's cheap!
All you'll need is:
- Unbleached toilet paper
- Seeds
- Egg yolk
- Small paintbrush
- Pen for labeling
If you've read a few tutorials about making homemade seed tape, you might be a little surprised not to see the ubiquitous school glue or flour paste listed. Here's my reasoning for not using those.
While the popular school glue method might be easy, there's no way I'm embedding my heirloom seeds, bound for my organic garden, in a cozy blanket of polyvinyl acetate. Thank you, no.
The more natural option seems to be sticking the seeds to the toilet paper with a flour and water paste. But - have you tried this? I did. With regular wheat flour, as well as a couple of gluten-free flours that I keep on hand. When the paste was thin enough to easily dab, it soaked tiny holes right through the toilet paper. When I made it thicker, it was unwieldy for dabbing onto each seed spot, and really quite slow to work with.
In the end, every version of the flour and water paste method had the same drawback. It really didn't nicely "glue" the seed to the paper, nor did it glue the paper to itself. This makes it necessary to very carefully handle the dried seed tape, so as not to dislodge the seeds in the planting process.
Have I mentioned that I plant like a crazy garden fiend, in the middle of black fly season? Fragile seed tape is not what I'm going for, and will probably make me say words that a virtuous homesteading mama shouldn't have in her vocabulary.
I was a little frustrated after my flour and water efforts, and almost ready to give up on the idea of homemade seed tape, when I got an idea from an old out-of-print book about Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Egg Yolk. The ancient Egyptians used egg yolk as one of their forms of adhesive.
This seemed worth a try. Egg yolk is smooth and easy to work with. It can be applied thinly so that the seeds don't soak up excess liquid, and the seed tape can dry quickly. And it actually really adheres the seed to the toilet paper, and the paper to itself, if you want to do the folded-over version that I like.
Now that I've found a natural method that's easy and works well, I'm making up seed tape for many of the smaller-seeded crops I'll be planting in May and June. Here's the step-by-step instructions for how I'm doing it:
How to make seed tape
You'll need:
- Unbleached toilet paper
- Seeds
- Egg yolk
- Ruler
- Small paintbrush
- Pen for labeling
Roll out a comfortable length of toilet paper for working with. I like to do about a yard at a time. If you're working with two-ply toilet paper, go ahead and separate it into two sheets.
On the back of your seed packet, determine the correct spacing for your seeds. About an inch in from the edge of the toilet paper, lay down your ruler. In each place a seed should go, use the paintbrush to put a tiny dab of egg yolk. So if your seed spacing should be one inch, you'll dab a little egg yolk at every inch mark along the ruler - about an inch in from the edge of the toilet paper.
Gently press a seed into each spot that's been dampened with egg yolk. Then very lightly brush a little egg yolk along the top edge, and also right below the line of seeds, all along your length of toilet paper. Lift the bottom edge up to the top edge, folding the paper length-wise on itself. Very gently press down, all along the length of your seed tape.
Leave it flat until it dries. For me, in a fairly warm and well-ventilated room, I find that my seed tapes are always dry within about half an hour.
You can write right on the edge of your seed tape with pen, to identify which seeds you've used in it. Then roll it up, and store in a cool, dry place until it's time to plant. You can store your seed tapes in ziploc bags, rolled-up in a mason jar, or you can grab your vacuum sealer and seal them up in vacuum bags.
When it's time to plant, just lay them down in your prepared garden bed, and cover with soil to the depth specified on your seed packet.
I hope you find this project as easy and fun as we do, and that it saves you time and energy come planting season! Happy gardening!!
Quick Update, 2/9/18:
I had to share a quick testimony of just how sturdy this seed tape can be. My cat just finished playing with a freshly dried strip of seed tape that he stole off my kitchen counter. Aside from the one seed that he deliberately chewed out - every seed was still in place. Little knucklehead cat...
Anna Chesley
Anna Chesley is a freelance writer living a homestead lifestyle, with a special love for family travel, old books, vintage skills, and seaside living. In addition to founding Salt In My Coffee, she runs the website, New England Family Life, as well as The 1800's Housewife, a website devoted to re-creating authentic 1800's recipes.
Brenda says
Wow! what a brilliant idea! Thank you for this. I am going to plant a second row of carrots with the seed tape. I can't wait to try this.
Thank you so much.
I am growing in zone 5b, in Ontario. It's crazy how we wait all winter for spring and then go like a March hare to get our seeds in through the swarms of blackflies/mosquitoes.
This is a game-changer!
Blessings.
Dee | Grammy's Grid says
Good to know! Can you recommend a vegan source to make the glue? Would this be good to try with all seeds, not just the tiny ones? And where do you buy your unbleached toilet paper? Thanks!
Anna says
Hi Dee! That is an absolutely awesome question. I had not though about a vegan option, but if I were to try it (and now I'm going to have to!) I think I would start with trying some aloe vera gel from one of my big aloe plants. I can't vouch for it, but that would be my personal starting off point.
As far as unbleached toilet paper, I get mine on Amazon. (Isn't it sad that no local store carries it?) Here's the kind I use: https://amzn.to/2EGIOv9
Best of luck to you!!
Sh says
You may be able to call and ask stores if they would carry it. I asked about a couple of different things and the next time I went in they had it!
Anna says
That is such a good reminder! How will stores know we want a better option unless we ask? Thank so much for the excellent idea!!
Rowena says
This is such a game changer for me and thank you for sharing your idea. I've never, never liked thinning anything as I can't help but think of it as selective termination - not to mention the waste of seed that was indeed vital. I love gardening "from my head to-ma-toes"!!
Anna says
To-Ma-Toes!!! HA! You've got me in stitches over here! Love it. And so glad you found this helpful - it's been a total game changer for me too, and such a saver of both time, and valuable seed! Thanks so much for the kind feedback, and happy gardening!!
Kimberly says
When folding the toilet paper on itself, do you fold it so the seeds are on the inside of the toilet paper(which is what I imagine) or the outside? This is briiant and something I am going to do over the next week!!! Thank you!
Anna says
Yes! I fold so the seeds are on the inside. And YAY - I'm so glad you found it helpful. This method really has been a game-changer for me!
Anna says
Hi Kimberly! Yes, I fold the toilet paper in on itself, so the seeds are inside. And YAY - so glad you found this helpful! This method has truly been a game-changer for me!
Melissa says
How does your germination do with these? I made similar tapes (but used flour/water instead of egg yolk) but not many actually sprouted. I was super bummed, because I thought I had solved all my problems!
Anna says
Hi Melissa! So far on each test batch, the germination rate has been nearly perfect (100% on dill, lettuce, carrot, and 9/10 on a different 3 year old lettuce seed). These tapes haven't been stored for months (4-6 weeks at testing time) - but I've been really pleased. I'm temped to try storing over some tape for several months to see how it does with long storage times. But so far, so good!! Hope it works as well for you as it has for me! Love your website, by the way!!
Jessie says
What a great idea! And you are so right, carrots are a pain! A few years ago I got the "genius" idea to mix my carrots & radishes together-I'd read that the the radishes will come up first (which they did) & provide nice shade for the carrots (which they did), & by the time the carrots are big enough the radishes will be all gone. I didn't count on the vast quantity of carrots-way more than I had time to thin; needless to say our carrot crop wasn't impressive!
Anna says
Thanks Jessie! Haha! I have done that exact thing...the radishes and carrots, and whew - that kind of thinning is just not in the cards for me at this stage of life! Just checked out your lovely blog by the way - the grandparent cards look so sweet. We might just have to make them! Thanks again for the kind comment!
nancy says
Great idea! I was shocked too by seed tape prices. Thank for all your great ideas too in your eBook! It's going well!!!
Anna says
I know! It's really shocking, isn't it?
And YAY - I'm so glad the book is proving helpful. Delighted to hear it, Nancy!
Nancy says
thanks!
Margery says
Can’t wait to try this. Carrots intimidate me!
Anna says
Yay! I hope it works well for you Margery! I LOVE growing carrots on a small scale with a perfect raised bed and tons of time on my hands...but up-scaling that to grow the amount of carrots our family eats in a year is a challenge for me. I'm hoping this is going to help me take it up a notch this year!
Dianne says
I love it! I’ve wanted to do seed tape for a while but didn’t like the idea of glue. I’m so doing this when planting carrots this year.
Anna says
Thanks for the kind comment, Dianne! I'm so with you on the carrots...I feel like the cat that ate the canary this year, with my stash of carrot seed tapes in three different varieties. I can hardly wait for planting time!!
Jen says
Bloody brilliant!
Anna says
Well that's high praise! = ) Thanks so much for the kind comment, Jen!