Now that we have chosen our seeds we will need pots to plant them in. There are so many different options there is no one right way. You can buy peat pots and pellets but they cost money and it’s being argued aren’t eco-friendly. (They use peat moss which takes the earth a few million years or so to make and it’s not easily renewable.) You can invest in a ton of little clay or plastic pots that also cost money and have to be stored somewhere. You can save your yogurt containers and poke holes for drainage.
I like using newspaper. It’s simple and free if you have already bought the newspaper. Here is how I make them.
Step 1: I read the NY Daily News which is a small paper so you may have to adjust for size, maybe cut yours in half first. I take one sheet and fold longways
Step 2: Fold the folded edge down an inch or so. (Yes this is a different piece of paper. The original shot was blurry so I just did a retake.)
Step 3: Place a soup can about half way down and wrap the paper around it with the small fold inside. Some people like to start out with small pots and use small tomato paste cans but I like to start a bit bigger with soup cans. I won’t have to transfer to a bigger pot so soon.
Step 4: Flip the can up so the open unfolded part is sticking up. Now fold over the ends so they all overlap. If they don’t overlap, push the can down a bit to give you more paper to work with. This will form the bottom of the pot.
Step 5: Flip over holding the folds closed with one hand and slide the can out. Put a bit of soil inside to keep it from coming apart. Then take the inside layer of paper and tuck it under the small fold you made earlier. This will keep everything a bit neater at the top. I cheated and only tucked part of the paper under the fold which is why it only goes halfway around.
Tomorrow we get to actually plants seeds!
