Living and writing in a circa 1840 New England Farmhouse with three generations of my family
June 1, 2025
Gardening Tip: Seed Starting with Seed Rolls and Seed Snails
It’s gardening season, so you’ll find my mom and I out in the garden nearly every day. There’s a lot of work to be done preparing the vegetable garden for planting and tidying up the flower gardens before summer temperatures arrive.
It’s been a cold and rainy spring, so planting had to be delayed. It was only a week ago that our high temperature was in the 40s and we were running the pellet stove to stay warm in the farmhouse. It looks like our temperatures are warming up and we’ll be in the 70s and 80s most of the week, almost hitting 90 before another rainy stretch of weather arrives late this week.
No matter how hard I try, I always seem to miss a seed packet (or three) this time of year. While most of our seeds were started weeks ago, I just started a few zinnias from the seeds we saved last fall and a bit of lettuce once I realized that I was short on lettuce starts for the veggie garden.
We’ve been starting our seeds in seed rolls (often called seed snails) for the past few years. We’ve had great success with this method. The seeds germinate quickly and develop vigorous roots. Seed rolls require less space, less work, and fewer materials than starting seeds in trays. It’s been a real win in our prep for the flower and vegetable gardens.
I wanted to show you how to make your own seed rolls, so I just uploaded a new video to our new YouTube channel to walk you though it step by step. You can watch the video through the link below. I hope that you’ll enjoy watching and that you’ll give this method a try.
I’ll be sharing more videos from the garden throughout the summer. We have extensive gardens here at the farm and there are so many plants and tips that I can’t wait to share with you. I hope that you’ll subscribe and follow along!
Have you ever used this method of starting seeds? I’m experimenting with different materials this summer to try and find a more natural material that we can use. If you have ideas for materials I could try or have found a natural material that works well for you, I hope that you’ll share it with me in the comments.
You can view the video on our YouTube channel right here:
Seed Rolls/Seed Snails for Easy and Efficient Seed Starting
This method of seed starting has become our favorite. It germinates seeds quickly and seedlings produce healthy root systems. As a bonus, starting our seeds using this method requires much less time and space than starting in trays.
For the last two years, we’ve started the seeds for our vegetable and flower gardens in seed rolls or seed snails. It was an idea originally shared by @faridasober. In this video, I’ll show you how easy it is to make your own seed roll and how well it works.
In future videos, I’ll be sharing the progress on these seed rolls with you along with a few experiments on using different materials. I’d love to use a more natural material for our seed rolls, one that isn’t plastic based, but we haven’t found one that works as well as the foam shown in the video.
Have you made seed rolls? If you’ve found a more natural material to use, I hope that you’ll share it with me in the comments so that I can give it a try.
Happy gardening and thanks for watching!
SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT
Some of the links to supplies and equipment below are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through our links we’ll receive a small commission that supports our channel, but it won’t cost you a penny extra.
We only share products that we use here at the farm, those that we have had a chance to use personally. We won’t share or recommend any products or services that we wouldm’t spend our hard-earned money on. You can find our favorite products for the kitchen, garden, and farmhouse right here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/1840farm
Supplies Used in this Video
Foam roll (One package makes many seed rolls. The thicker material can easily be reused.) I like to use foam that is ¼” or ½” thick as I find that it gives it better structure to stand up. You can find that here: https://amzn.to/43U6xDs
This thinner foam can be purchased at big box stores near the moving and shipping supplies. It will function as well, but may need a taller pot/container to help it to stand. You could use two sheets of this thinner material stacked on top of each other to give it a bit more structure. You can find it here: https://amzn.to/3ZbQ3nB
00:00 Intro 53:15 Supplies 01:27 How to Make a Seed Roll 04:02 How to Care for A Seed Roll 04:28 Nasturtium Seed Roll at Six Weeks
______________________
I’m Jennifer and I moved into an empty New England farmhouse twenty years ago. Three generations of my family call 1840 Farm home. Tending to the needs of an old house from the 1840s and bringing that house and our gardens back to life have taught me a lot . I’ve been sharing some of those skills on our blog and across social media for more than a decade.
Now it’s time to start sharing what I’ve learned with you here on YouTube. I hope that you’ll follow along and that you’ll become a part of our community.
For the last two years, we’ve started the seeds for our vegetable and flower gardens in seed rolls, or seed snails. We’ve found that this method germinates seeds quickly that grow vigorous, healthy root systems in a compact space.
The seeds are started in potting soil instead of a soilless mix, so there’s no need to transplant tiny seedlings multiple times, a process that takes a lot of time, makes a big mess, and requires ample space to house flat trays of seedlings. This method saves us time and space
during a busy time of year when there are so many other gardening chores
to tend to.
You don’t need fancy equipment or supplies to make these rolls.
You can use a strip of flexible packaging foam or other material you have on hand and secure it with a piece of tape or a rubber band.
I’ve even seen people cut strips from the bag their potting soil came in to make their rolls.
For each roll, you’ll need a strip of foam or other material, a bit of potting soil, a piece of tape or rubber band, and a small pot to stand the roll in. You can easily recycle a plant pot or a container bound for your recycling bin. A spray bottle is useful, but not necessary.
You can find detailed instructions and a list of the supplies we use
along with links to the same packaging foam we have used in the description below.
I like to use a strip of packaging foam about 6 inches high and 14 to 16 inches wide. Place the potting soil on the foam, making an even half inch thick bed along the length of your material. Make sure to leave a half inch border on the top and the bottom of the foam and between 1 to 2 inches on each end to allow the soil to expand as you roll it up.
My soil was a bit dry due to our recent hot weather so I used a spray bottle to add a bit of moisture before adding the seeds. Add the seeds along the top of the soil, placing them about half an inch below the top edge. You can sprinkle the seeds quite liberally.
While some gardeners roll the soil first and then add the seeds, I find it easier to place the seeds and then roll it together. Use whatever method works best for you
For this roll, I was using zinnia seeds saved from last year’s garden, pulling each seed away from the dried petal before placing it on the soil. I find that giving the seeds a light mist with a spray bottle helps to secure them to the soil as I roll it up making them less likely to fall out.
Fold one end of the foam over the soil and begin to roll. You don’t need to place much pressure on the roll or compress it. You just need to contain the seeds as you roll it together. Some of the soil usually escapes from the top and the bottom of the roll as I turn it.
Secure the roll using a bit of tape or rubber band and label your roll.
You could place a collection of seed rolls in a tray, but we have found that it’s useful to place each roll in a small pot or a recycled plastic container with a shallow layer of potting soil in the bottom
to help retain moisture. After the seed roll is upright, you can top off your roll with a bit of extra potting soil if needed.
Seed rolls should be watered from the top until your seeds germinate.
Once the seeds have sprouted, they should be watered from the bottom.
Watering from the bottom allows for more effective watering
and prevents the seedling’s foliage from staying wet. This helps to discourage pests and disease and watering from the bottom
helps to establish healthy root systems.
Here’s a roll of nasturtiums we started five or six weeks ago. We tried using bubble wrap instead of the foam. It wasn’t as easy to work with, but did germinate well.
I’d love to use a more natural material for our seed rolls, but of the ones I’ve tried, I just haven’t found one that works as well as the packaging foam. So, I plan to keep experimenting and I’ll share what I learn with you. In the meantime, if you’ve found a more natural material to use, and you’ve made seed rolls, I hope you’ll share it with me.
Until then, happy gardening and thanks for watching!
