DIY Seed Mats

These seed mats makes gardening so easy. What are seed mats? They are seed tape for Square foot gardens. Seed tape are long strips of light weight material with seeds embedded in them and you simply level the soil and lay down a seed tape that you cover with the appropriate amount of soil and your row is planted.The seed mat works the same way only the seeds are embedded on a square foot mat.

Seed mats work well for carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, beets,and arugula. I would not make one for any plant that is spaced one or two per square foot or for seeds that need to be soaked before planting.

So why go to the trouble of making seed mats?

•  They speed up the time it takes to get the ground planted which means less time bending over the bed planting small seeds. This can be very helpful when the wind is blowing and there is still a chill in the air.
• Seed mats help keep your seeds in the original place after you water them or it rains before they have a chance to root.
• They make succession planting easier. We all have good intentions to plant a new crop every two weeks but life happens and it isn’t always easy to get the planing done when you want to. Seed mats are always ready to be tossed onto the level soil and a little soil place over them. Easy as pie!
• They save seeds. You control where the seeds are on the mat and how many seeds are planted. No wind blowing the packet over or a helpful child/pet dumping all the seeds in one square.

How to make a seed mat.

1. Decide what seeds you want to plant and how many squares you will need for the season. (Look at your garden plan – remember that is always the first step.) I will need 21 lettuce, 8 carrots, 8 radish, 6 beets,3 cilantro,15 spinach,and 9 arugula mats.
2. Check the square foot garden guide to find out how many seeds to plant per square foot. Lettuce , carrots, radishes, and arugula are planted 16 per foot. Spinach, cilantro, and beets are planted 9 per square.
3. Make a template. You will probably need one for 16 seeds per square and another for 9 seeds per square. You could make two separate one but I only wanted to store one for future use.
4. Mix flour and water together to make a glue. 
5. Place a cheap napkin (one that will dissolve in water) over your template.
6. Using the dots on the template as guides place a drop of your “glue” on each dot.
7. Using tweezers place two to three seeds on the glue.
8. Label you mat with variety of seeds and let dry completely. I place mine on top of newspaper to dry. I also add the date I wish to plant them under the crop name.
9. Fold and store in a sealed plastic bag until time to plant.
10. To plant just rake prepared soil, lay mat on top of the soil, cover to the correct depth with soil and water.

The hardest part to make is the template but once made you will not have to do it again.

You will need a piece of cardboard that is 12 inches square, a ruler, and marker.

For a 16 seed per square foot mat each seed will be 3 inches apart so you will need to make your first row 1.5 inches from the  top, bottom, and side edges. Measure 3 inches over for the next row and continue  for two more rows marking each spot were a seed will be planted with a dot.

For a 9 seed per square foot start your first row 2 inches from edges and four inches between seeds.

I used the back of a cereal box and placed both grids on one template. The 16 seeds per foot are the blue dots and the 9 seeds per foot are the red dots.