Newspaper Seed Pods

Now that the snow has melted and the warmer temperatures are here, a lot of people are thinking about their gardens. You can get seedlings started from home with these newspaper seed pods. Once the seedlings are ready to go in the garden, you can plant the entire pod – no transplanting required. This is a great family project for those of all ages.

To get started you'll need some newspapers, seeds you'd like to plant, earth – I used a triple mix, a tray to put the pods on, and a workspace. Depending on the size of your newspaper, you may need to trim it or try a different method of folding to make your pods (there are links at the bottom). I used single sheets of newspaper as they are fairly sturdy once folded.

With an open sheet, fold your paper in half with the open pages at the bottom, then in half again from left to right to make a crease down the centre. Fold the top left and right corners into the centre where the crease is.

Now fold one page of the bottom section up to the triangle you've created. Then flip over and fold the left and right sides into the centre.

Next, fold the bottom section up to meet the triangle. It should look like a rectangle on the bottom and triangle on top.

Now fold the rectangle inside the pocket and the triangle down into the pocket. Flip upside down and open the slit, the bottom sections will slid as you pull the sides creating the pod.

Now it's time to plant 🌱

Now you're ready to fill the pods with soil, plant your seeds and water them, and remember to follow the planting instructions on your seed packet. Keep your seed pods in a sunny spot and don't forget to water them every couple of days – check your soil to see if it's dry. Don't forget to label your pods so you know which seeds you've planted. Once the seedlings have started to grow and you're ready to put them outside in the garden, you can plant the entire pod.

The library has some great resources about gardening; just visit the Online Resource sections of our website. Want to learn more about seeds and seed saving? Essa Public Library has a section on that too: visit here.

Depending on the size of your newspaper you can try this method of folding from Origami Fun, and Melinda Meyer.

Happy planting.

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– Dawn Travers

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