My plants are well-read

Looking back, I can say that my greatest memory of last summer was not developing goose bumps waiting behind a boat, but rather, feeding friends and family directly from the garden. Now’s the time to start this summer’s crop.

The Farmer’s Almanac has a handy-dandy calendar available for free that has already calculated the phases of the moon to tell you exactly when you should be clearing ground, and actually planting seeds. Pay attention — some days actually say “seeds planted today tend to rot.” (Why wouldn’t we plant by the moon? Just check the hospital birth rates during full moons!) Today and tomorrow are good seed starting dates, and so I prepared in advance by making these gorgeous, recyclable origami newspaper seedling pots. Like peat pots, you simply plant the entire pot in the ground when you’re ready to transplant to the garden.

It’s getting difficult to find a newspaper made of entirely black ink — but that’s OK, because all the inks tend to be made with soy now. The one thing you must try to avoid is the glossy pages.

There are quite a few video tutorials available to show you how to make these origami newspaper seedling pots– but this one below is the only one that has the camera positioned at just the right angle to actually let you see how to make the “flip.” The only adjustment I made was to use a double sheet of newspaper, folded in half. Makes a sturdier pot.

Unfortunately, my newspaper is a bit shorter than hers, so I could not make the fold over flap. Instead, I had to use tape to seal off the pot.

These are great pots, they’re free, and they hold lots of water, and then dry out. The nicest thing is that they are quite large, making it less likely that your seedlings will grow out of your pots.