Paper Pots

When I went over to my friend's house and suggested we make paper pots, she and her mother gave me that look. I get "that look" a lot. The look that means I'm up to something odd and not necessarily normal, but with the potential for fun or usefulness. The look that translates loosely to, "Hm. What's Traci doing this time?"

The idea for paper pots came from a little permaculture book of ideas I had read a while back. Basically, you make old newspaper into pots to start seeds in. It's very simple and requires a cylinder shape like a cup or jar. I used a small canning jar.

Here are my helpers:

 In a couple of hours of chatting, we managed to crank out well over 200 paper pots. We even ran out of the newspaper I brought, but my friend pulled out another stack from her recycle and we were in business again.

I usually make pots at home in front of the TV when my husband is watching his favorite shows. I have a lot of nervous energy and sitting still makes me feel like I'm wasting time. So, I get to watch TV and get something useful done at the same time. It goes much faster with friends though!


Here are the instructions for paper pot making.
1. Fold a regular size sheet of newsprint in half lengthwise.
2. Fold one corner down at an angle.
3. Set your jar on the newspaper with the folded edge a little lower than the bopttom of the jar.
4. Roll the newspaper around your jar, starting at the straight end and ending at the angled end.
5. Stuff all the unfolded end into the mouth of the jar. Crease the edges.
6. Slide the paper off the jar. It will now be the shape of the jar but the inside will be all messy.
7. Push your jar inside to flatten and slide it off. Done!

Fill your pots with potting soil and set in your seeds. I place the pots in corrugated boxes because they are slow to degrade and also hold in moisture.

All of the boxes came from our restaurant instead of being tossed in the garbage.

This picture is the tailgate of my truck with all the pots ready for soil. Luckily, I had a willing helper with me that day, too! When working with kids always try to make the work fun. It gets done so much faster.





Farmer K and I had a competition to see who could fill their pots with soil the fastest.
He won this one, and was quite proud of himself as you can see by that grin.



We only have a few shelves left to fill in the greenhouse!