When growing different plants in your garden, you’ll want to make sure you plant seedlings with enough space in between each row for adequate growth and to allow space for weeding. This will provide plenty of air circulation and allow plants to grow to full maturity – there needs to be enough space underground for root vegetables to grow to their full size, you don’t want to overcrowd a flowerbed either, and shrubs will need space to grow to their mature size above ground without being stunted from insufficient space underground for their roots to spread out. An easy way to achieve equal spacing when planting seedlings is with the triangle method, using a triangular-shaped cardboard guide.
Planting seedlings in a grid with triangular spacing, rather than rectangular, is much more space-efficient when you have a large garden. You can use a triangle tool to measure your spacing to ensure that you make the most of your garden space by fitting the most amount of plants possible into your flowerbed or fall vegetable garden. If you have a smaller space, a rectangular guide might work better for you though. You’ll need to determine how many plants can fit into your garden, and you can use any free online spacing calculator to help you work out which method is the best for your space. Either way, our guide below will show you how to create a DIY plant spacer and how to use it.
How to make and use a DIY seed spacer
@oursanctuarygarden
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On TikTok, @oursanctuarygarden shares this neat garden hack, demonstrating how to make and use an easy, time-saving DIY seed planting spacer using cardboard. This is an awesome eco-friendly hack that allows you to create different sized spacers when you need them using material that you would normally throw out or recycle anyway — so keep hold of any cardboard boxes because you never know when they might come in handy, especially if you love DIY hacks like this one.
Before measuring and cutting out your triangle, you will need to know how much space is needed in between the seeds or seedlings. In the video above, she is planting corn, which she says needs to be planted about 10 inches apart. A quick Google search will tell you what measurements you need for your plants, then use a ruler or tape measure and pencil to mark out your triangle. To plant your seeds, lay the triangle on the soil and place a seed at each corner. Don’t push the first seeds down into the soil straight away as you will need to use them as a guide to line up your triangle for the next row. This method is easily adapted to make a rectangular cardboard guide if your garden beds are on the smaller side.
