New Zealand Garden Swap Newsletter
Garden Swap Website - Newsletter Cover - Page 2MAKING YOUR OWN SEEDTAPES
Seed tapes are an easy way to plant a row of seeds with precision spacing. This
is a valuable technique when you have a short supply of seeds, or each is very
expensive. It provides for uniform spacing and avoids the need to thin out
sprouting seedlings.
Control freaks also love that they can pre determine plant spacing without having to 'eyeball" it on the spot. Simply put, seed tapes are just seeds fastened to some sort of biodegradable paper by an adhesive that itself is biodegradable. This allows for the plant roots to grow through the paper as the adhesive dissolves around the seed so as not to obstruct growth.
In a small pan dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornflour in 1 cup of cold water. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from getting lumpy. Once it starts to boil and turns into a translucent gel like mixture, remove it from the stove and let it cool to room temperature. Get some paper towels, leaving the sheets attached and tear off a section about five feet, (apologies can't convert). Cut the length of the towels into long strips that are about 10-15 mm wide. Take a look at your seed packet and determine the proper planting space for this variety. You might want to label a corner of the tape with the name of the variety you are planting if you are making more than one.
Take the cooled cornflour mixture and put a few spoonfuls into a plastic bag. Work the gel mixture towards one corner of the bag, removing as much excess air as possible, then seal the bag. Next you'll need to snip off a corner of the bag to create a piping bag like tool. If you are doing more than one type of seed think about the size of the cut you make in the bag first. Smaller seeds will only need a tiny speck of gel, while larger one s may need a glob. Its always possible to put a bigger notch in the corner of the bag if you need bigger globs, so start with your small seeds first.
At this point it's a simple matter of dabbing on the gel at the right spacing (use a ruler and pre mark it with a pencil), putting the seed in each dab. If your seeds are very small you may want to put the seed into the cornflour mixture after its cooled, before even placing it in the bag. Then you can mix them together and seed the tape by simply dabbing in the right places. One creative use of seedtapes is to plant them in patterns. This would allow you to precisely determine where various flowers or foliage will grow in relation to each other, Think how your loved one would like their name in flowers! Or how about your street address spelled out in daisies? Then possibilities are endless!
