By Lucy Corkhill
18th April 2013
Despite garden centres literally heaving with things for us to buy at this time of year, growing seeds can be really cheap, or even free. Ask neighbours, friends and family if they have any seeds they harvested last year, or experiment with tomato, pumpkin and apple seeds. The cheapest way to begin growing is to make your own plant pots. This means you don’t have to buy non-biodegradable plastic seed trays. These simple pots will hold your seedlings until they are ready to go in the ground or a bigger pot, and then they will break down in the soil. This also means you don’t have to transplant seedlings, which is great for fragile plants, plus it saves you time.
Making biodegradable pots is a great way to recycle old newspaper and is a learning activity for kids that encompasses ecology, science, biology and some artistic flair! You can experiment with different sized cylindrical objects to make different sized pots.
You will need:
Old newspaper (black and white, not coloured or shiny)
A cylindrical object such as a drinking tumbler or tin can
How to make the pots:
1. Fold a sheet of newspaper (two pages with fold in middle) in half lengthways, then fold it again lengthways. The newspaper will now be in a strip with eight layers.
2. Place the can or tumbler (cylinder) at one end of the folded newspaper, leaving enough paper above the rim of the cylinder so you can make a floor for your pot.
3. Wrap the newspaper around the cylinder.
4. Hold the paper in place so it doesn’t unravel, and tuck the edge of the newspaper into the mouth of the cylinder, pinching it as you go.
5. Now slip the cylinder out of the newspaper and place your pot on the table. Add a little compost into the bottom of your newspaper pot and press into place. One way to ensure your pots keep their shape is to group them together on trays so that they provide support for one another.
6. Fill the pots with compost and place on a waterproof tray so you can water them. Now you can start planting!
7. When your seedlings are ready to plant out, you can either put the pot direct in the soil if planting outside, or you can ease the seedling out and shred the newspaper pot for compost – worms turn newspaper mulch like this into rich castings.
Note: Avoid coloured or shiny newsprint as the dyes used are chemical-based. Black and white ink tends to be soy-based and biodegradable.
