How to Evenly Space Your Small Garden Seeds

I grew up working in our ½ acre garden every summer.  This is how my parents taught us to work and kept us fed all year round.  The part of gardening that broke my little heart was when we had to thin, the radishes, carrots, turnips, kohlrabi, etc.  I went to all that work at work only to pull out more than half the little seedlings.  Recently I saw in a gardening store a strip of paper that had the little seeds evenly spaced along it.  You planted the paper and the radishes, etc. came up 1 inch (etc.) apart.  Brilliant!  Here is my version of paper with the seeds evenly spaced along, so that all you have to do is plant the paper.

Step 1:

Supplies:
Toilet paper (I use the last of a single ply roll)
Serrated knife
Washable white glue
Seeds (I used radish seed, can be any small seed that needs specific spacing)
Ruler
Storage container (to store finished product until planting time, not shown)

Step 2:

I took the knife and cut what was left of the toilet paper roll in half.  I only needed half the width of the roll, and I didn’t want to use scissors and cut down the center of the toilet paper FOREVER!

Step 3:

I looked at the back of the seed package and learned that the spacing for the radishes was one inch.

Step 4:

I rolled out 36 inches (+/-) of the toilet paper. I laid the ruler along the paper, and put a dab of glue every 1 inch. Try to make the dab as small as possible.  The less glue the better, because it will release the seed easier and it won’t stick the bottom of the paper to the counter as easily.

Step 5:

Then I put a seed on top of each dab of glue. 

Step 6:

Repeat until you have as much as you want.   Let dry for 45 minutes. At this point, lift the paper from the counter to make sure it isn’t sticking.  Use a bread knife to loosen where is has stuck.  Let it dry for another 45 minutes.  You shouldn’t see any wet spots, just seeds every inch along the paper.

Step 7:

When totally dry, roll up the paper and put aside until planting time. 

Step 8:

I put mine in a zip lock bag along with the seed packet.  This means that there is one less job to do, before you can eat fresh radishes from your garden.   Enjoy!