Mats & Tapes – They’re So Great!
Commonly seed packets are supplied with loose seeds that you carefully pour out into your hand and sow one by one, but what if it could be easier than that? If you are new to gardening you may not have heard of seed tapes and seed mats, let’s demystify these for you today, we guarantee you will love them!
What Is A Seed Tape or Mat?
Traditionally you will find most seeds on the market come in packets for you to pour out and place into soil one by one. Seed Tapes and Mats are quite a bit different to standard seed packets. Instead of a sachet of seeds your packet will contain a long strip or sheets of thin tissue like paper. When you look closely you will see that the seeds are sandwiched between layers of the thin paper.
Seed tapes come in 5m long strips and the idea with these is to prepare your garden bed as if you were to sow rows of seeds, but instead of sprinkling seeds one by one you lay the strip of paper in the garden bed instead. You then cover the strip over with fine soil and voila! The same goes for seed mats however instead of rows you can use these to fill pots. Each packet comes with 3 round 8cm seed mats, to fill a few pots with your favourite herb seeds.
Why Do I Need My Seeds In Paper?
There are many benefits to adding seed tapes and mats into your bag of tricks, check them out below:
· Straight rows everytime! The white paper strips stand out from your soil which means you can get a great visual whether your rows are straight or not before you cover over with soil. Let’s be real, we don’t all have 20/20 vision and so many seeds totally vanish once they hit the ground! This is excellent for crops like carrot and onion where straighter rows make easy harvesting.
· With seed tapes and mats there is little thinning required. This is because the seeds are already spaced apart for you within the paper. With less thinning comes more time for other gardening activities and if you have mobility issues crouching down by the soil picking out seedlings one by one can be quite backbreaking.
· Tapes and mats are also an excellent choice if you suffer from arthritis or tremors in your hands. We have all spilled a packet or two of seeds in the garden before and it can be quite frustrating, particularly with those teeny tiny herb seeds like mint and thyme.
· Did we mention the tape and mats are biodegradable? You won’t find a trace of the paper once it breaks back down into the soil. It is a great solution if you struggle with traditional seed sowing and rely on purchasing seedlings that come in those wasteful plastic pots.
· Consistent germination is another perk. Small seeds like carrot and onion can easily wash away in garden beds, particularly if you get a heavy downpour. The paper holds the seeds safe, just long enough until they can anchor themselves with roots when they germinate.
· Saves you time and money. It takes no time at all to quickly lay out some strips of seed tape and is much cheaper than purchasing individual seedlings for your garden, particularly since you get 5ms of tape per packet!
· Makes crop planning a breeze! As the tapes are already measured out you can easily sow in succession. Simply tear off and save the remaining tape for planting in 2-4 weeks from your first lot. For example you may find your family like to eat radish often, so you can sow 1-2m strips every couple of weeks to keep you in constant fresh supply.
We can’t wait for you to explore our range of seed tapes and mats, once you try them out you may not want to go back!
