Monday, March 15, 2010

Newspaper pot redux

My estranged friend Tim seemed to think that my newspaper pots lacked pizazz and he sent me to this website to learn how to make a proper newspaper pot. The blog --www.noordinaryhomestead.com has both a video and a series of photos detailing the construction of an origami box that can be used as a pot for growing plants.
I watched the video several times until I got it. Once I understood the instructions and once I practiced a little, making an origami box was fun and easy.
Advantages of the origami box over the regular newspaper pot are:
  • You can fold the origami box and store it easily for later use. I can probably store 100's of these in a small box or bundle them with a rubber band and store them in a drawer somewhere.
  • The origami box is sturdier.
  • You don't need anything other than your hands to make them.
  • You can make different sizes of origami boxes by simply changing the size of the paper with which you start.
Sure, it takes a little longer to make an origami box but then again, with just a little practice, I was able to make an origami box in about 30 seconds.


A) My regular newspaper pot made by wrapping newspaper around a pill bottle.

B) The origami box made with a piece of paper 8.5 inches by 11 inches (21.6 cm x 27.9 cm)

It is too late for me to use the newspaper pots for my seedlings this year. By the time I remembered that I wanted to use newspaper pots I had already purchased my bamboo pots and my coir pellets for the season. Still, I will make many of these throughout the year in preparation for next year. Heck, maybe I will eventually be able to grow my veggies inexpensively!