Make Your Own (MYO) Seed "tape" for Square Food Gardening

Because of the vast area we will have to cover in our garden we are making our own seed "tape". We found paper towels that are 11x6 inches and tore two sheets together to make an 11x12 inch bed for the seeds. You don't have to spend a lot of money on the paper towels. The idea is for them to break up after you "plant" them in your space.
The glue we used was 1 TBSP cornstarch to 1 Cup of water. Add a few drops of food coloring to help you see where you have put the "glue". Heat on stove until thickened. Allow to cool and then put into a squirt bottle of some kind that will will allow you to place small drops onto the paper towel in the specified amounts, such as 9, 16, 4..... depending on what you are planting. There are many different kinds of glue you can look up and then choose what kind you want to use. We decided this one would work best for us. As this year is kind of a trial and error year, we will see if this works best.
We have done our spinach, radish, carrot, and onion seeds this way.

Here you can see Brian adding the drops of glue to the paper towel. 

 

Adding the carrot seeds to the glue.

Once your seeds are placed put another paper towel over the top to form a sandwich.

Place all of your "sandwiches" in a plastic bag and then in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Be sure to label everything you are doing, from seed starting, to seed tapes, to storage, and everything in the middle. These tapes are planted at the recommended depths for each seed.

Our first seedlings!

If you look really close you can see the first Broccoli seedlings poking their heads up!

It is always exciting to see new plants poking their heads up out of the ground. The more that show up the more exciting it is. Can't wait to see how other things grow.

Ready, Set, Plant!

Planning and planting a garden of this size requires lots of time and patience. We have started the first round of planting indoors on Feb 21, 2015. The plan that Brian has created tells us that Celery takes the longest to grow so we are starting it super early. We will be doing different plantings every week for the rest of winter and into spring. (We will also be doing different plantings for a fall crop as well.) Here are a few pictures of our latest experiment.

Brian planting the first seeds of the year.

Under the lights to keep warm and provide "sunshine".

A little larger view.

Of course we have to have a Mickey Mouse watering can!

The whole set-up just waiting for more baby plants to be added.

Planning the garden

These are the planning documents that Brian has put together so he knows what to plant when. He is very meticulous when it comes to things like this. We have lots to do so this makes it really easy to know when to do what. I really appreciate the hard work he does to make things turn out great.









This set show where each thing is going to be planted. Brian has made up a three year rotation schedule so we get the most benefit from each plant each year. By rotating our crops we don't deplete the soil of needed nutrients.












These show just how many plants we are going to have in our new garden space! Look at those numbers! Are we Crazy!?!

More plant numbers! Oh Boy, We Are Going To Be Busy This Fall!!!!!