Introduction: Garden All Year Long With Recycled Paper Seed Strips!
More by the author:
About: I adore instructables and use it when I'm playing with ideas for my students (I'm a certified art teacher and the Art Director for a children's summer camp). I have found that it fuels my creative process as …
Greetings fellow instructable junkies! This instructable will teach you how you can garden at any time of day, any time of year, just about anywhere using recycled materials! Getting started is easy!
Just round up the following materials:
Seeds
Newspaper, magazines, old greeting cards, junk mail, used envelopes, that term paper you forgot to turn in, or any other paper you thought about throwing away!
Ruler (I must admit I don't know why seed packages do not have rulers printed on them....I should design it I might make millions)
Elmers School Glue
A box or large manilla envelope
Other materials not necessary but might be nice:
A paper Cutter
A cool beverage
A TV and that show you can't live with out
A movie
Your favorite tunes
A seed marker for your garden
Just round up the following materials:
Seeds
Newspaper, magazines, old greeting cards, junk mail, used envelopes, that term paper you forgot to turn in, or any other paper you thought about throwing away!
Ruler (I must admit I don't know why seed packages do not have rulers printed on them....I should design it I might make millions)
Elmers School Glue
A box or large manilla envelope
Other materials not necessary but might be nice:
A paper Cutter
A cool beverage
A TV and that show you can't live with out
A movie
Your favorite tunes
A seed marker for your garden
Step 1: Seeds and Recycled Paper
Decided what type of seeds you want to use first. For this instructable I picked beans, because green beans are good for you an it's good to be green.
Gather up the paper you are going to create your strips from. I rripped pages out of a magazine I was planning on throwing out.
Gather up the paper you are going to create your strips from. I rripped pages out of a magazine I was planning on throwing out.
Step 2: Measure Your Strips
Once you have your paper measure our your strips. The strips should be about an inch in with. Here you can guesstimate if you like, ideally you want to make sure you have a strip a hair larger than your seeds.
Step 3: Time to Make Your Strips!
Open up your package of seeds.
Look on the back of the package and see how far apart the seeds should be planted. For the beans I picked, it was three inches.
Here your ruler is much more important.
If you feel like it you can mark your spacing.......however, you can just lay your ruler by the paper and put your glue dots on the strips.
Easy so far don't you think!!
Look on the back of the package and see how far apart the seeds should be planted. For the beans I picked, it was three inches.
Here your ruler is much more important.
If you feel like it you can mark your spacing.......however, you can just lay your ruler by the paper and put your glue dots on the strips.
Easy so far don't you think!!
Step 4: Put the Right Seed in Put the Right Seed Out
Once you have your glue down, simply place your seed on the dot and allow it to dry.
Once dry you can place your strips in a box or envelope and wait for the day you are ready to plant.
Once dry you can place your strips in a box or envelope and wait for the day you are ready to plant.
Step 5: Why This Rocks!
What is wonderful about making seed strips, you can do this at anytime of day or night, anytime of year, and nearly anywhere.
Using paper you were going to throw away becomes plant food. I normally prefer newspaper, because the fibers biodegrade faster, however when I went to put this together, I couldn't find a newspaper anywhere in the house.
Think of how EASY and CHEAP it can be to plant a large garden! You can buy you seeds at the end of the season at a discounted price. You can hang out all winter gluing seeds on paper when you feel like it and put them in an organized labeled storage place.
When spring hits, prepare your ground and open up a line with a hoe, lay the strips in, and cover with dirt. No sitting on your knees, fumbling with seeds, planting things to close, and so on.
This cuts you time in the garden and you can even put down mulch or other weed preventive measured because you know right where your seed lines are.
Your recycling helps you and the earth, it's completely win win!
A few things to note:
There are other glues out there or homemade glues you can use. Elmer's will not harm the seeds or the ground.
The ink in the paper will not harm the ground nor your seeds.
This will help the environment and your pocketbook
You can garden all year long!
Using paper you were going to throw away becomes plant food. I normally prefer newspaper, because the fibers biodegrade faster, however when I went to put this together, I couldn't find a newspaper anywhere in the house.
Think of how EASY and CHEAP it can be to plant a large garden! You can buy you seeds at the end of the season at a discounted price. You can hang out all winter gluing seeds on paper when you feel like it and put them in an organized labeled storage place.
When spring hits, prepare your ground and open up a line with a hoe, lay the strips in, and cover with dirt. No sitting on your knees, fumbling with seeds, planting things to close, and so on.
This cuts you time in the garden and you can even put down mulch or other weed preventive measured because you know right where your seed lines are.
Your recycling helps you and the earth, it's completely win win!
A few things to note:
There are other glues out there or homemade glues you can use. Elmer's will not harm the seeds or the ground.
The ink in the paper will not harm the ground nor your seeds.
This will help the environment and your pocketbook
You can garden all year long!