There’s nothing more satisfying than growing from seed and watching the first little green shoots peek through the compost. It can also save you money as seeds are much cheaper than even small plants. And there’s no need to buy plant pots for your garden seedlings. You can make your own pots really easily using old loo rolls , old newspapers and even plastic water bottles.
Save your toilet roll tubes in readiness for planting your seedlings. The inside of a toilet roll makes a great little pot! Full size rolls are perfect for growing long rooted plants such as Sweet Peas or Runner Beans, but for ordinary plants you can cut them in half and fill with a general purpose compost and plant your seeds. You can then plant them straight into the garden when they are ready, as the cardboard will decompose naturally. It’s much cheaper than buying seedling containers from the garden centre. And if you couple this with finding your plants for free, your garden will be blossoming in no time.
How to
- Take a toilet roll tube and make four slits around one end of the tube to create 4 flaps. Each flap should be about 5cms in length.
- Fold in the four little flaps like a box bottom and stand upright on a tray.
- Fill the pots with potting compost Press down the compost firmly with your fingers and you will find that the compost will stay put in the tube.
- Plant your seeds Remember to keep the pots well watered!
- When the seedlings are ready, simply plant the pot directly in the ground. There’s no need to transplant the seedling and disturb its roots. Just plant the whole pot out in the ground where the cardboard will eventually rot away.
Tips and Hints
If you run out of toilet rolls you can always use newspaper to make little pots. Simply fold a sheet of paper to the required length and roll into a tube and push one end in. Fill with compost and plant your seeds.
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No need to worry about late frosts, simply use empty plastic bottles to make mini cloches. Cut the bottom off and place on top of the pot.
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And hold onto your plastic bottles, they’re really useful for all sorts of things in the garden – from self watering pots to irrigation systems
Posted by Michelle on August 28, 2009 at 3:57pm
Continuing the theme of plant pots from toilet rolls, I grow potatoes particularly – although you could grow most things I guess - in bin bags: good for the earthing up bit, as you gather the neck of the bag loosely around the growing plant, moving it up each time you earth up. At the end of the season, you have a bag of potatoes.