• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Blog
  • Prep-Ahead Meals Cookbooks
  • Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Gardening
  • Kid’s Activities
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Budgeting Tips
↑

Premeditated Leftovers™

Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living

  • Cookbooks
    • Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches
    • Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area
    • Member Login
    • Join Us
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Garden
  • DIY
  • Kids
  • Budget

You are here: Home / Gardening / How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper

How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper

February 7, 2015 by Jody 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
13246 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper  - Get ahead start on your garden and use this tutorial to make your own Seed Tape while you wait for spring planting.

This DIY seed tape makes a great activity for the kids, especially if winter weather has you stuck indoors. Even before springtime planting rolls around you can spend some time prepping for your garden ahead of time. Making seed tape is a simple activity that only requires a few common supplies and a little bit of time. It is simple enough that you can let the kids take the lead after some simple instruction. Below is a tutorial showing How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper.

How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper

Items Needed:

  • Newspaper
  • scissors
  • marker
  • assorted seeds
  • flour
  • water
  • jar for storage
  • small rubber bands

DIY seed tape supplies

Directions:

Cut newspaper into strips about 2″ wide.

On each paper write what seeds you will be “planting” on the end.

Determine spacing- you can usually find this on the back of the package. Use a ruler and marker to mark off distances, for instance on our radishes they recommend a 1″ planting space so we marked a dot every 1″.

Next we are going to create a “paste” for our seeds. In a small container stir a mixture of flour and water- how many seed tapes you make will determine the amount. I did about 1 Tbsp. flour and a couple teaspoons of water for 12 seed tapes and we had a lot left over, so just make a little and add as you go.

Drop your seeds onto the flour paste, allow to dry completely. We left ours overnight.

Roll seed tape up, write each plant name again on the outside, slip a small rubber band over the roll to hold it together.

how to make seed tape using newspaper

Place rolls in a mason jar in a cool, dark place to wait for planting season!

How to Make Seed Tape with Newspaper  - Get ahead start on your garden and use this easy tutorial to make your own Seed Tape.

More Gardening Tips

  • How to Start Square Foot Gardening
  • How to Prep Soil for Vegetable Gardens
  • Top 10 Organic Fertilizers
  • How to Make a Frugal Cloche
  • Companion Plant Gardening
  • Vegetable Container Gardening
  • Tips for Attracting Bees to your Garden
  • How to Make Fast and Easy Compost Pile Using Hay Bales
13246 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Comments

  1. Bev Gooch says

    June 16, 2020 at 3:48 am

    Can you do this with flower seeds in say a triangle shape rolled to be put straight into the flower bed?

    Reply
  2. Heather Burgess says

    March 27, 2020 at 8:34 pm

    Do you unroll the newspaper when planting? Does it lay flat in the soil?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      March 28, 2020 at 7:04 pm

      Yes, you unroll it and lay it flat.

      Reply
  3. Junior says

    November 13, 2016 at 6:12 am

    I love this idea but u left out the part after you mix the flour what you do with it

    Reply
  4. Karen Vaughan (née James) says

    September 19, 2016 at 10:31 pm

    Thanks for sharing, this is great, and is good for a big or small garden.

    Reply
  5. Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai says

    March 6, 2015 at 11:31 am

    What a cool idea! I’ve never heard of doing this before. Please come share your blog posts over at the Home Matters Linky Party! We’d love to have you for a visit. The Door is OPEN. http://lifewithlorelai.com/2015/03/05/home-matters-linky-party-27/ 🙂

    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai

    Reply
  6. Jennifer Abel says

    February 18, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    I love this idea, and I am doing this for my hubby who plants 4-5 seeds per hole! Visiting from #wakeupwednesday

    Reply
  7. sparkling74 says

    February 18, 2015 at 4:49 am

    I’ve seen this idea so many times but when it comes to planting I just want them in the ground already and don’t bother to take the time! As I sit here knowing I won’t see the ground for at least another week thanks to many feet of snow, I might actually do this! When you unrolled them, did the seeds pop off or did they stay stuck? My worry is that after a couple of weeks, they’d be so dry that they’d just pop off and kind of defeat the purpose of all that work.

    Reply
    • Verna says

      March 3, 2015 at 7:48 am

      If you are ready to put them in the ground……..you dunk them in tepid water and unroll in the furrow that you have made in the ground. Do not leave them in the water. Just dunk and plunk and cover with a light layer of soil. The next day add the amount of soil that they are supposed to be planted in. I would mark that on the newspaper as well. You know 1/4 “, 1/2 ” etc. Do not unroll to dunk. Happy planning and planting. Happy harvest 🙂

      Reply
  8. Stella Lee @purfylle says

    February 17, 2015 at 7:07 pm

    This would make such a lovely gift for my want-to-be gardening friends.

    Reply
  9. Krista says

    February 17, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    Awesome! I’ve tried this with toilet paper before but I think newspaper would be so much easier to work with! I can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
  10. Pauline Wiles says

    February 7, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    I’ve never seen this idea before, but I think it might work well for my Mom & Dad who are getting up there in years: they find all the bending (not to mention seeing the seeds against the earth) a bit tricky, so this way of preparing in advance might suit them well. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Carlota says

      January 9, 2016 at 8:32 pm

      I made seed tape for carrots but did not cut strips.
      I took a whole sheet of newspaper and dotted flour glue at 1″ intervals in all directions. Set the sheet of newspaper on moist soil and mist with a sprayer. Sprinkled soil and sand mixture to cover.
      It worked so well that I’m wondering why I didn’t seed 10 times that amount.
      No need to thin them out this way

      Reply
      • Alea Milham says

        January 10, 2016 at 10:53 am

        Brilliant idea Carlota! Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
      • Donna says

        February 12, 2017 at 3:24 am

        Wow, great idea! I’ll definitely be trying this with my carrots and other seeds as well. Thanks for posting this tip!

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Search

Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

Recent Articles:

2 ways to start composting easily

3 Ways to Start Composting

How to attract wild birds to your yard.

Tips for Attracting Winter Birds

use succession planting to grow more food

How to Use Succession Planting to Grow More Food

Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch Where to Buy

BROWSE:

  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area

ABOUT:

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure

Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

Copyright ©2023, Premeditated Leftovers™. All Rights Reserved.
Design by Pixel Me Designs