Ok, here is something new that I have to try next gardening season. Like most gardeners I have been planting my seeds the old school way, you know plant them in a row and then thin them out later. Well, I just found out that using these homemade garden seed mats, can save you a lot of time and energy.

All the required materials, are already readily available in your home. You can literally finish reading this and go make these yourself. The seed mats allow you to space out your tiny seeds which are difficult to sow one at a time before planting, so you never have to worry about going back to thin out your seedlings in the garden. Perfect for use with carrot and lettuce seeds.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• seeds
• cardboard
• toothpicks
• tweezers
• ruler
• marker
• thin napkins
• water
• flour
• small glass bowl
• ziploc bags

If you are using seeds from a packet, you can check the back for spacing guidelines. For example carrots are 3 inches apart or 16 seeds per square foot. Measure your cardboard using the ruler and use the marker to mark where your seeds will go.

Lay your napkins on top of the cardboard template. The flour and water are mixed together to make a paste, which will be dabbed onto the napkin and the seeds embedded into it using the tweezers. Leave the napkins out to dry completely, do not forget to label each one.

Once the napkins are dry, you can easily fold them and store them away. Ziploc bags work well for storage. When the gardening season begins, it is just a matter of laying these napkins on the garden bed, covering with soil and watering your beds. Simple, huh?

You can follow step by step instructions on the Grow A Good Life blog, here…

DIY Garden Seed Mats

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