How To Make Newspaper Pots

When it comes time to starting your garden, there’s no need to wait until the weather is warm and the home improvement stores start selling plants. Starting your own seeds indoors is the perfect way to not only know what you’re growing and the conditions it grew under, but you can also get a larger variety of plants that simply aren’t available as transplants. You can also save an enormous about of money since most seed packets average about $2 per pack, while transplants are $2.75 for 6. Depending on the type of seed, that $2 gets you more seeds than you could possibly grow in a single season as a hobby gardener.

Before you can make newspaper pots, you need to know what you should start planting and when. If you need help with that, you can check out my post on determining your start date.

Now that you have an idea of what you can grow and when, it’s time to get started!

To make newspaper pots, all you need is some seed soil, newspaper, a can {I used a can of tomato soup}, a spray bottle filled with water {I use this one}, some tape and scissors.

First, trim the newspaper to about half the height of the soup can. Make sure to leave about 2 inches below the base of the can for the bottom of the pot. For our local newspaper, cutting it into thirds {top-to-bottom} worked out to be the perfect height.

Roll the newspaper around the can. Tape the newspaper end in place so it doesn’t unroll.

Fold in the bottom of the pot, making sure that there’s no holes that soil may escape from.

Use a piece of tape to reinforce the bottom.

If you’re unable to get your hands on newspaper, or prefer to reuse your growing containers, you can start seeds in some recycled yogurt containers or plastic cups. Just be sure to put some holes in them first. You could also buy some peat pots or reuse the 6-cell packs from nursery plants.

All that’s left to do is fill your pot with some starter soil and plant your seeds according to the directions on the package. Don’t forget to spray the soil lightly with some water.

I chose to store my newspaper pots in box that I lined with plastic wrap and topped off with newspaper. This way my seedlings didn’t leave a mess behind as I water them during their long haul under the grow lights.

Be sure to label what you planted. Seedlings within the same family look very similar, and it’s hard to tell them apart when they’re small. Then cover with some plastic wrap to replicate a greenhouse, and place under a grow light or in a sunny location.