Newspaper is a great choice for your garden because it will decompose. Most newspapers use soy or water based inks and these will not harm your plants, but try to avoid using newspaper printed with colour ink.
If you choose to transplant your seedlings into newspaper pots, once you are ready to move the plants into the garden you can plant them directly in the newspaper. Make sure to open the bottom of the pot so that the roots can spread more quickly.
Materials:
Newspaper
Soup Can
Scissors
- Open up the newspaper two page spread and cut it into two separate pages.
- Fold a single page in half lengthwise.
- Roll the newspaper around the soup can and hold it in place, so you have a newspaper cylinder with the can in the middle.
- Fold in the bottom of the newspaper until that part of the cylinder is sealed.
- Press the end of the can against the table to make sharp folds, this will help hold the paper together.
- You may need to trim the top of the paper accordingly.
- Slide the can out.
- Fold the edges of the top down to hold the side seam.
- Add soil to the pot and transplant your seedling!
Teaching From the Garden 