The Carrot Tops Allotment Blog!

Seed sowing season is just around the corner and I thought it would be a good idea to make seed starters out of the toilet rolls I’ve been saving up…

There’s lots of ways you can make seed starters and a few different methods online – and to be honest there’s no right or wrong method. Do what you prefer to do.

Toilet rolls come in all different sizes and lengths, and I’m quite particular about keeping things as similar as possible – so I’ve devised this method of making seed starters that a. help with uniformity and b. have a bit more a sturdier base to them.

You will need…

Toilet rolls, a pen or pencil, a ruler, scissors and a glass of water.

Getting friends and family to collect toilet rolls is not unheard of – many hands make light work as they say. I’ve even heard of people collecting them from work too.

First of all flatten your toilet rolls and using the width of the ruler, mark a line from the base of the toilet roll on each side of the roll.

Fold the toilet rolls again length ways to create another set of creases in the toilet roll.

Make sure the creases are deep, and fold the the roll the other way – this will help to maintain a shape when you open them back up again.

Open up the toilet roll and cut along the creases to the line marked earlier.

This makes four flaps that can be used to make the base of the seed starter.

I’ve seen online people fold these flaps inward overlapping one another, but for me personally, this is just a bit too fiddly.

Making a flat base is good enough for me at this stage and it’s easier to open up when it comes to planting or transplanting your seedlings.

This is where things get a little bit different, and it took a few goes to get this just right.

I fold in the base of the toilet rolls and dip the base into some water. This makes the folds a little bit more malleable, and you can almost stick all of the folds together using just the water.

The base of the seed starters will be soft at this point, but when they dry they’ll be sturdier than before – they’ll also retain a bit more of a shape too.

Place the seed starters wet side down onto a flat surface, and once you’ve got enough seed starters, place a weight on top during drying.

I usually using a plate at the bottom and a plate at the top is just right for this.

Once you’ve done all of your seed starters, you’ll see all of the uniformity come into play. Not only is really gratifying to watch, but it’s also a very therapeutic activity.

You’ll see from the picture above, there’s three different types of toilet roll, but it’s not really made too much of a difference.

This is my method of making seed starters from toilet rolls – what’s yours? I’d love to know in the comments below!