How to Make Newspaper Seedling Pots for Your Garden This Year

Growing food in your backyard (or even on a porch or windowsill) is one of the simplest and most rewarding ways to nourish yourself, be self-sufficient, and connect with nature in a hands-on way. The following excerpt is taken from Gardening for Everyone by sustainability expert Julia Watkins which shares everything you need to know to grow your own vegetables (including DIY newspaper seedling pots), fruits, and herbs (as well as wildflowers and other beneficial companion plants). 

From Planning to Planting to Harvest, Your Guide to Creating and Growing a Bountiful Edible Garden

The book covers all the nuts and bolts of creating and caring for your garden—from putting plans to paper to enjoying your harvest—including an essential gardening primer: demystifying annuals vs. perennials, cold-weather vs. warm-weather veggies, and profiles of favorite crops. Throughout, Julia offers tips for creating an eco-friendly and sustainable garden (such as vermicomposting, no-till “lasagna” gardening, saving seeds, and attracting pollinators), plus some fun and unexpected DIY projects like how to build a bean teepee, craft wildflower seed paper, and make refreshing herbal lemonade ice pops.

Newspaper Seedling Pots

Newspaper seedling pots are a wonderful way to include children in the garden. They’re easy for little hands to roll up with the help of a seed pot form or a small tin can. They’re also free and sustainable, requiring nothing more than newspapers from the recycling bin. Unlike plastic seed trays and pots, they’re completely biodegradable and can be planted directly in the ground to protect seedlings from transplant shock. Over time the newspapers will decompose, just as they would in a compost bin. When selecting your materials, be sure to use standard black-and-white newspaper with nontoxic soy-based ink. Most newspapers are made this way, and chances are yours are too, but if you’re concerned, you can always call the local paper to double check.

Tip: Biodegradable pots can also be made from toilet paper rolls or the empty rinds of grapefruits, oranges, and lemons. Both can be transplanted directly into the soil.

Julia Watkins is the author of Simply Living Well and Gardening for Everyone and the creator of the popular Instagram account @simply.living.well, where she shares about living simply, slowly, and sustainably. A lifelong lover of the natural world, Julia has worked in environmental and natural resource management for most of her life and has a graduate degree in conservation science and policy from Duke University. Julia and her husband are the co-founders of Lookfar Conservation, a nonprofit that supports conservation and restoration projects in Africa and Latin America. When she’s not experimenting with new recipes and remedies, you can find her in her art room crafting with her children or in her garden growing veggies, herbs, and edible flowers. Julia lives with her family in an old farmhouse on the north shore of Chicago.