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Talkback: Making plant pots from old newspaper

Hi Adam

very interesting can you expalne how to make these pots??????
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  • Emily, You can buy nice little wooden kits with full instructions on how to make paper pots or do as we do which is use an aerosol deodorant can as the former. In fact any hard round container would do, having a concave bottom is helpful.

    You take 2 or 3 pieces of paper about the height you want your pots plus the diameter of your can by 2 or 3 times the circumference of it. It is then quite simple, wrap the paper round the can with the excess paper hanging over the bottom of the can. Fold this excess over over the bottom of the can, scrunching it together. Then push it down on to a hard surface and remove the can. I find it helps to put a single staple in the top edge to hold everything abit better.
  • my grandad and dad used woodbine packets.i use vending cups .but i will give paper a go . thanks for the tip
  • That's a brillant idea of using a can to make the pots from newspaper as the wooden kits are quite expensive!
  • Yesterday while sawing back a huge yucca I found a piece of wood off an old table or chair, just two pieces joined together with a one foot crossbar, It makes an ideal double dibber. I am using it to plant out primulas I am dividing and think it will also do for potatoes. Just look at what is around and use your imagination. There are free newspapers on the buses, good to catch up on the news and great for paper pots, Adam, but from the amount of pots people give me when they are tidying up ready to buy more ready-made plants I don't think I can live long enough to see them degraded by the frost. Perhaps I should cherish them as family heirlooms as oil shortage will mean plastic will be too expensive to produce in future. Was there not some controversy about the ink from the newspaper being detrimental to the soil or the birds recently?
  • I mainly use newspaper pots for the heated propagator, that way I can get seedlings out as soon as they are ready without disturbing the rest, "reorganise" containers with newspaper pots to one part of the propagator making space for the next batch,... it's propagator management at it's best ;-)

    I have a few DIY wooden templates but I use any cylinder for other dimensions, so you don't really need them : very easy to make http://bit.ly/h1jKXE (bear with, it has a small ukulele intro ;-)
  • so what happened? where is toby and friends? instead we have monty dull and hi s range of workwear for sons of soil..now its montys world and how boring is that.. how we relate to his garden is all there is..lets have some good progressive stuff back..this is a backward step and so dull. budget cuts are suspected..be brave for a change..us gardeners do have brains..d..
  • Adam, does anyone on the team know anything about the effect of radiation on vegetables? There are eleven vegetables affected in Japan but which ones/ Are root vegetables immune? just in case it ever happens here - yes, we do get seismic activity. As a young child in Central Scotland I was sent flying by an earth tremor. We hope geologists are consulted before nuclear sites are given planning permission, but I would like to know if we can grow vegetables that are safe when episodes like Chernobyl occur. Anyone out there well versed on the subject?
  • Thanks for all your comments.

    Happymarrion, I'm afraid I don't have a Geiger Counter in my potting shed! I know there were concerns back in April 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster, as radiation did affect areas of the UK. I seem to remember sheep showed signs of radioactivity after feeding on grassland affected by radiative fallout!

    For now, lets not worry about us, but give what support we can to the people directly affected by this ongoing disaster.

    I will certainly post a reply if any more detail reaches me from experts in this field.
  • This is a complementing post to "recycling in the garden" that you did earlier. Making such pots can also by made from porous rugs that can be soaked in water.
  • I was just looking at the 'ToDo' list for the coming week and see it is time to sow my runner beans in long pots 9toilet rolls), as I haven't got any of those I shall try to make some for my runners!! Great idea!!!
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