Our community has a pretty good recycling program but we still try to find multiple uses for consumer products that typically have a single use. We aren’t making our own toilet paper yet (don’t see that on the short list of projects!) so we have these unbleached cardboard tubes when the roll is empty. It turns out they make great seed pots for starting your herbs and veggies indoors.
Take a toilet paper roll and cut it in half. Make four half-inch (just over 1 centimetre) cuts equally spaced on one end of the roll to make four flaps. Fold the flaps in like you are closing a box lid with one side of each flap tucked under the next flap. Congratulations, you just made a seed pot while you were watching Netflix.
Fill each pot with good quality potting soil and plant a couple of seeds in each. Place them in a waterproof tray and give each pot a good soak to start. The seed you planted will determine how long it takes to see a seedling poke out through the soil. By starting them indoors, you can get a jump on the season and give your plants a head start. This is especially helpful in northern climates with shorter growing seasons.
Your toilet paper roll pot should be able to contain most veggies until they are ready to transplant into a larger pot or directly into your garden. Pick a day when you have not yet watered your pots and bring them to their new home. Gently open up the flaps to expose the roots and place the entire pot in the new soil. The cardboard will continue to break down but in the interim, it will help support the young plant in its new surroundings.
Water the transplants and watch them grow. Don’t forget to plant some of the same seeds directly into the garden to get two staggered crops of great food in one growing season.
Michelle