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Well, ladies, you can see that I am not getting anything productive done today except hanging around this board! But hey, I've earned it!!

Here are the directions on how to make biodegradable newspaper pots--just for Fluffy!

Step 1 (of 11 pictures)--Start with a sheet of newspaper:

Step 2--cut newspaper in half lengthwise:

Step 3--turn one half to the side and fold long side down about 2-3 inches:

Step 4--take a pint jar (I used a plastic mayonnaise jar) and place it at one end of the newspaper. Make sure that the open end of the jar is facing to the right. The closed end of the jar is hanging off the edge of the paper about 1-1 1/2 inches:

Step 5--start rolling the jar with the newspaper around it. Don't roll too tightly or it will be difficult to get it off the jar. Roll all the way to the end:

Step 6--this is what it will look like:

Step 7--hopefully the picture will show this clearly enough. Poke/fold/stuff the unfolded ends of the newspaper into the jar. You don't need to go very deep, just about an inch or so inside the jar. After a practice run or two, you'll be able to judge how far to poke the ends inside the jar.

Step 8--carefully slide the jar out of the newspaper. Hang onto the newspaper carefully because it's not quite ready to stand on its own yet. Turn the jar around, putting the closed end into the paper pot first. Once the jar gets all the way into the newspaper, press it onto a flat surface. The bottom of the jar smooshes the newspaper folds together so it forms the bottom of the pot.

Picture 9 shows the jar all the way inside the paper pot

Picture 10 shows the whole thing after the bottom has been smooshed/crimped to fit the bottom of the jar

Step 9--carefully remove the newspaper from the jar and it should stand on its own. The bottom might be a little wonky, but once you put your potting soil inside and wet down, it should stand up nicely for you. Works best in a tray with other newspaper pots--place seams toward the center, and they will "lean" on each other a bit, helping to keep the newspaper from coming apart. Water from the bottom of the tray. You may use biodegradable masking tape on the seam if you wish.

Plant newspaper and all into the ground when seedlings are ready. You may tear off the bottom before placing in the ground if you don't want to wait for that to compost down. Make sure you do not leave the top of the newspaper above the level of the soil, or it could wick moisture away from the planted part.

We may need to bump this tutorial up next winter for those of you who do early indoor sowing. Have fun!!

Thank you, this was most helpful and a much easier way to recycle newspaper than taking it to the recycle center.

Is there a way to save posts on here to your hard drive? I might be able to copy/paste into word...will try that. (This would be a great program for my next garden club stint).

ve

OMG, that is so simple. I could never figure out how to do it. I was overthinking it. I want to do this next winter. Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for this tutorial and I'm going to use it for my seedling perennials to transplant into the garden. Should keep them more moist so they get a good start and the worms will take care of the newspaper in time.

To save threads I just right click and 'save page as' to my computer. Of course I have a Mac, might be different on a PC.

thanks karen for taking the time to post all that. and thank you, joyluck, for sharing the 'right click' info. that will work for as long as HGTV leaves this thread on. every so often they do a purge so folks may want to go to their Plan B to save it.

my mac will only copy text, not pictures so i will have to download each picture and put them in my iPhoto album. like you putting them on one at a time, karen, i'll be downloading them one at a time. what the hey.. i'm retired. i have all day.. wink wink.

Vera, go to the top and click on Tools. You will see "printer friendly format", click that. Then you can copy and paste the whole thing, or the portion that you highlight, to Word or some other word processing program. Then save it as you normally do.

To return to the regular thread, go back to the printer friendly version and just hit the "back" arrow and there you go. I do this all the time with recipes and patterns, etc.

Oh, I forgot to say that you may have to copy the photos separately and insert them in your document.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Florida Farm Girl,

Great idea! Your tutorial is really good! I'm going to show this to my sister. She's a Master Gardener and is always looking for ideas for her group to use.

Also, you can "Pin" this tutorial to Pinterest if anyone is interested and save it that way.

Oh that brings back memories. My Mom used to use the whole page to make a liner for the garbage can. That's when we took our own shopping bags to the butcher, the baker and the grocer. Giving my age away. I'll have to try it next year.

Thanks you'all!! I actually found a couple of different videos and combined techniques until I found one that was easy to teach and fairly durable.

You should have seen me putting together the "origami" pot! You'd spend so much time on those, you'd never want to stick them in the ground to get ruined!!