The Adventure of Making Newspaper Pots for Starting Garden Seeds

I found a hub on making newspaper pots and decided to try it. This hub is about my results. But first let me give a big THANK YOU to Mistyhorizen2003 for this great idea!

Being a "garden freak", not necessarily a successful one but one none-the-less, I took to these silly little pots like a duck in water.

Seed pots, not to be confused with pot seeds, are small pots used to get your flower or veggie seeds started indoors while you wait for the last frost, if you have that problem. Once you are ready to plant outdoors you simply plant the entire pot into the dirt. The pot will rot away or can be dug up and thrown away.

The best part of these little pots, aside from being virtually free, is over the winter you can make a million of these while watching TV and have all your flower and veggie starters ready to go as soon as the last frost has occurred.

Now I know some of you will be looking at my gorgeous and obvious hard-workin, strong, man-handling, cowboy Man Hands... and daydreaming, but please... refrain from any comments along those lines. Lets keep it family rated. :)

( For those who don't understand that was a joke... click here.)

Author's Note: There is not a lot of writing in this hub, not like some of my other hubs which are the equivalent of a small novel. I apologize for that. This hub rely's largely on visual communication. If you consider a picture to be worth a thousand words, this hub is loaded with things to say!

- Best Wishes
- Harlan

I largely followed the instructions, but I had I smaller can, which made my newspaper too thick. To solve my problem I dipped my pots in water, then folded the bottom over the can. I used the can to press out the water into a paper towel, then set the pots aside to dry.

You may wish to check with your local newspaper publisher to see if they use a non-toxic, bio-degradeable ink. Most newspapers do anymore. If your local rag does not, chew them out and tell them how offensive it is they fill the local landfill with toxic ink everyday. The ink kills the rats and the mice at the landfill when they nest in newpaper, then the gulls that eat the rats and mice. Eventually, it leaks into the water down below and poisons the water somewhere.

Look carefully at the above photograph. The paper is about an inch and one-half taller than the lid of the can, it is important you do this.

If your first attempt is not as neat as you would like, its ok. Once you have it around the lid, you can take it off and adjust it to your liking.

Take a piece of masking tape and tape the end of the strip. Fold the tape over and into the inside of the paper cylinder as shown.

Here is a nice 4" tomato plant I started a few weeks ago in a newspaper pot. You can also take a Sharpie Permanent Marker and label your flowers and veggies. I use a Sharpie so the ink will not run when the paper gets wet. Just write the name of the plant right on the side of the paper - before you get it wet. I find it helpful to write the plant names on the pot when I am deciding where to put what - especially if it is a seedling.