Gardening: Newspaper Seedling Pots

Since we just had snow this week (craziness!!), my garden is getting a late start.  My husband and I spent last weekend cutting down a tree that is in my future garden plot.  Normally I would be against cutting down trees, but it had taken quite a hit from Hurricane Sandy, and didn't seem to be coming back.  Oh well, now at least I have a sunny plot for the garden.

My first prep work is to make my seedling pots.  You can buy seedling pots from just about any store, but you can also make your own using newspaper.  I like to make my own because it's extremely cost efficient, takes about 20 minutes to knock out around 50 or so pots, and I never have to buy anything new each year.  I use a pot-maker that I bought for $6.00 a few years ago. This is the one I use:

However, I have heard that you can also use a soup can pressed into a tuna can if you want to use what you might have lying around.

Here is a quick tutorial:

Measure strips of newspaper into approximately 3.5" x 11.5" strips.  I use double-ply newspaper so it won't break down too quickly to easily transplant the seedlings.

Then wrap the strip around the cylinder of the pot maker...

And fold the ends under.

Press the bottom into the pot maker and give it a little twist...

And voila, your DIY seedling pot!

I made about 50 of them in one sitting, and I probably need 50 or so more.  I put them all into baking pans so that they can lean against each other as they grow.  As they get bigger, the roots will grow out from the bottom, and you just plant the entire pot in your garden.

I am going to start this year with a smaller garden, and see how the soil/sun works in the area I picked out.  Now I just need to plan the garden, buy the seeds and till the plot... so I guess I will be busy in the next few weeks!