HOW TO: make your own newspaper plant pots!

Whether you're gardening on a budget, are on a mission to be as eco-friendly as possible, or have simply run out of flowerpots, making your own planters out of old newspaper is as easy as it gets.

In addition to being free to make, newspaper plant pots / planters are fantastic for planting vegetable seeds, because when the plants are ready to be transplanted into the ground, or a larger pot, all you have to do is drop the whole thing in the ground. Once in the ground, the newspaper will disintegrate, meaning that no damage is done to the roots of the plant when transplanting.

To make your newspaper plant pots, you will need:

• Newspaper
• A jam jar
• That's it!
  

1. Start by taking two sheets of a newspaper and folding them in half lengthways, together.

2. Take your jam jar and place it on the newspaper, with the open top end facing inwards and the bottom end of the jam jar approximately one inch outside of the newspaper edge, as shown:


3. Roll the jam jar and the newspaper until all of the newspaper is wrapped around the jam jar.


4. At the end with the open top of the jam jar, start folding the newspaper in on itself to form a base, as shown:



5. Remove the jam jar!


6. Once the jam jar is removed, make your hand into a fist and pad down the bits of newspaper at the base, like this:


7. If there are a few gaps in the base of your newspaper plant pot, you can fix this by folding over a few small pieces of newspaper and placing these in the bottom.

8. And there you have it! Fill with compost for a sturdy, environmentally-friendly plant pot.


Remember, you will be watering these quite regularly, so make sure that your newspaper plant pots aren't too flimsy – use an extra sheet of newspaper if you want to make an extra strong plant pot.

Good luck!

Had a go at making newspaper plant pots, or something similar, yourself? Why not share photos of your creations on the London Vegetable Garden Facebook page, or send a tweet to @londonveggarden!