( CNN ) -- Have you always wanted to have your own garden and grow fresh , healthy food but did n't know quite where to start ? Which vegetable varieties to go for , how far from one another to place the seeds and how much water to use ? That 's also how Claire Reid felt back in 2002 , at 16 , when her father asked her to plant a garden during her school holidays . `` I was overwhelmed by the amount of seed I had to buy , the amount of fertilizer , the wastage , '' recalls Reid . Reid quickly realized that gardening was not made easy for beginners . She was frustrated that she had to measure manually the correct distance between the seeds , as well as to pay a small fortune to buy what she needed , since everything came in bulk -- not to mention the badly written instructions . So Reid then decided to put her young mind to work . `` I wanted to come up with an idea that if I only wanted to plant a meter of spinach , I only needed to buy a meter of spinach , '' recalls Reid . After giving it some thought , Reid used baking flour and liquid feritlizer to stick seeds , in calculated intervals , onto newspaper strips . She then went on to plant the strips in furrows . The experiment worked and Reid was encouraged by a school teacher to present her idea into an expo for young South African scientists -- Reid 's project won the gold medal . `` I was a 16 year old girl that was barely passing science in school and the concept of me becoming a businesswoman was quite absurd , '' says Reid . Yet , that high school idea has grown today to become Reel Gardening , an award-winning patented invention aiming to simplify food gardening and make it more effective . Launched in 2010 , Reid 's Johannesburg-based startup produces a paper strip that that comes pre-packaged with seeds and organic fertilizers . These are spaced at the right depth and distance apart so they can be easily planted and maintained . The tapes , which are sold in reels , are packed by hand and cost $ 1 per meter . `` We are passionate about starting a planting revolution , '' says Reid , whose packaged seed strips grow vegetables , herbs and flowers . `` So we enable anyone to be able to grow vegetables -- with little space , little education and little water . '' Reid says her biodegradable strips use 80 % less water than traditional gardening methods , because they require water only at the exact location of each seed . And that 's one reason why she shares her product with people in urban slums where water is less available . So far , more than 120 community and school gardens have sprouted up with Reid 's help . There are 11 official languages in South Africa so the young entrepreneur uses simple pictures on the products ' packaging to overcome language and literacy obstacles . `` It tells you exactly where to water , all the nutrition is already in there , '' says Reid , who sells her planting strips throughout South Africa . `` Birds ca n't eat the seeds out of the soil ; water ca n't move the seed ; and you only need to plant as much as you have space for . '' Looking ahead , Reid is determined to see Reel Gardening grow , even outside South Africa . `` We are hoping to be live in the UK , selling on the 1st of May , '' she says . READ THIS : Teen turns $ 14 into paper bag empire . READ THIS : Flip-flops to rubber masterpieces .
Claire Reid is the founder of the Johannesburg-based startup Reel Gardening . It produces a biodegradable tape that encases organic seed and fertilizer . Reid says the strips use 80 % less water than traditional gardening methods .