
Are you planting a garden this spring? Sometimes it can be tricky to plant tiny seeds with the right spacing, but if you make this DIY seed tape, it will be much easier!
Gather your materials:
- Any kind of seeds, as long as they aren’t too old to sprout.
- small saucepan
- spoon
- stove or hotplate, to be used with adult supervision!
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup cold water
- Any squeeze bottle (you can reuse a clean, empty mustard or ketchup bottle)
- scissors to cut the paper towels
- paper towels, cut in 1 1/2- to 2-inch strips and folded in half lengthwise
- ruler
- plastic baggies or plastic containers
Optional materials:
- A drop of food coloring
Instructions
- Stir cornstarch and water together in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat until it thickens: the mixture should look opaque and cling slightly to the back of a spoon or a fork before dripping off.
- Let the mixture cool and transfer it into a squeeze bottle. Optionally, add 1 drop of food coloring and shake the bottle to make your ‘glue’ easier to see.

- Lay out paper towel strips.

- Check the planting directions on the seed packet to see how far apart to space the cornstarch glue dots. Using the squeeze bottle, place dots of the cornstarch mixture along one side of the folded paper towel, using the ruler to space them correctly.
- Place 1 seed on top of each cornstarch glue dot, fold the other half of paper towel over the top, press it flat, and let it dry completely.
- Store your dried seed tape and the seed packet (or planting instructions) in a plastic bag or plastic container.
- You do not need to refrigerate the seed tape, but the refrigerator is a good place to store it until you are ready to plant!

from Kathy at the Alsea Community Library