crunchy bits

Well, the new moon is on March 15, so we’re in a big rush this week to get our newspaper pots up and running by then. We’re experimenting with various garden techniques this year, and lunar gardening is one of them. I read some interesting info, having noticed that the Farmer’s Almanac includes “planting by the moon” information on their calendar. Many studies have been done to validate the folk observations of the effects of the moon on plant growth, and I figure I could use all the help I can get growing more of our food and herbs. I found several books on the subject via ILL at the library, and a website called gardeningbythemoon.com.

Last year we made newspaper pots to house our seedlings until they were ready for the garden. Definitely more time consuming than buying seed trays, but you can plant the entire thing in the ground making transplanting much less traumatic. And I imagine the newspaper disintegrates faster than peat pots since it’s so much thinner. Plus we’re keeping materials out of the waste stream rather than purchasing a single-use piece of plastic, with all the environmental burden that carries, or the peat pots, another non-renewable resource. Needless to say, it eliminates the need to sterilize seedling pots, a task I detest.  AND we have well-read seedlings, up on the latest town politics. Either way, it’s a win-win, n’est-ce pas?

So, first step. I took the local paper that comes each Friday (smaller than a NYT type paper, so if you’ve got one like that you might have to adjust or use a bigger form), opened it and cut along the center crease. Then I turned it 90 degrees and cut along the fold. Lucia took some shots to illustrate.

I now had what I needed to make one pot. I turned it so the shorter side was near my stomach, and folded that up about 1.5 inches. After creasing that fold, I brought the opposite short edge under the one I’d previously folded, not coming all the way to the fold, but perhaps a half inch or so back from it.

Next, with the smaller fold folded over the bottom fold, and keeping this thinner fold toward the top of the jar, I wrapped it, folds inside, around the jar, leaving a little less than half the newspaper hanging off the bottom of the jar. Can I say fold a few more times and confuse you? Fold down the larger fold, fold the shorter fold over it, keep that nearest the top of the jar. Phew!

Turning the jar on it’s lid, I folded the newspaper down to cover the bottom. For these small jars (Bionaturae glass jars, though cans work as well, just give a bigger pot), I had to fold it down in 3 sections.

Done folding down the bottom, I turned it over and slid the jar out. Now it’s time to tuck the part of the top that wraps around into the slit created by the first fold.

You need to keep pushing down at the same time to keep the bottom folds from popping up and destroying the pot. I found that it took a couple of tries to get the hang of it and then it was pretty easy.

Voila! Ready to fill with potting soil and put in the container. Definitely fill it as soon as you fold it, because I didn’t and half of them came undone when I picked them up to fill a while later.

Ready for seeds.