DIY Seed Packets

I've really been loving the garden this year. Our cucumber plant has produced dozens of delicious cucumbers, we've had plenty of hot peppers, and don't even get me started on the delicious pastas we've made with fresh oregano and basil.

One surprise this year was our kale plant. We planted curly kale for the first time last year and come winter, we expected everything to die so that we could start over in the spring. Well, to our surprise, the kale plant resurrected and grew like crazy on its own. It flowered almost immediately and then produced weird long pods. After a bit of internet research, we realized the pods contained kale seeds. I ended up letting the pods dry themselves out in the sun and then I collected the seeds. And then I decided to do a little DIY for making seed packets at home.

These are so cute and a great gift idea.

So here are what the dried out kale seed pods look like. Obviously you can do this with any seed you like.

You'll need:
sturdy paper (I used a brown grocery bag)
scissors
glue
tape
marker
seeds

Here's the basic gist of what you want to do to make the tiny envelope:

• Cut a rectangle out of the paper. I used pieces that were approximately 3" x 4" and without even measuring, just roughly cut and measured by eye.
• Fold in the two sides. Basically, you want to fold in the two sides just past the halfway point of the paper. The goal is to have the pieces slightly overlap so you can glue them together to form a closed envelope.
• Cut out small pieces from the top of the paper to create a flap.
• Run glue along the bottom edge of the paper and then fold in one of the sides.
• Run glue along the folded side and then fold in the second side.
• Fold the bottom edge and then glue it shut.
• Fill the packet with seeds, fold over the top flap, and then use tape to close it. You can also glue these shut. However, I had so many seeds that I will likely reuse from year to year and having a taped flap makes this envelope a little less temporary.

In case my diagram wasn't enough, I also documented the actual process. Here I am, cutting and folding my piece of paper.

I also went at the envelope with some pinking shears just to make it look a little prettier. Honestly, it didn't really make a big difference to the final product; the zigzags were v. subtle.

The finishing touch (which isn't really mentioned in the steps I listed above) is to label the seed packets. It wasn't super critical for me, since all I collected so far are kale seeds. However, if I decide to collect more seeds from our garden, I'll need to distinguish between them all.

I also laid a piece of tape down underneath the flap because I thought it would make the flap tape peel off a bit more easily and make opening and closing the envelope a lot easier.

I'm going to be collecting seeds from our perilla plants, Korean chives, and our Thai basil at the end of the season too.

Happy gardening!

xoxo.