Make your own eco pots

Get creative and save money by recycling or making your pots

Newspaper pots

Use a wooden pot-maker (or a beaker or tumbler) to make as many little pots as you want quickly and easily. Cut a strip of newspaper, fold into a double layer, then wind it around the spool, leaving an overhang at the bottom. Fold this under the base as you go. Then press the base coaster onto the bottom to firm it in place. The double-ply newspaper not only helps to hold sufficient moisture in, but prevents the pot collapsing when in use. Place the pots in reused plastic veg trays.

Toilet roll tubes

The cardboard inners of toilet rolls work in a similar way to the paper pots, above. Fold them in at the base to contain the soil. These are especially good for sowing large seeds like sunflowers and beans.

Stand the tubes in reused veg trays, with gaps between them to allow air flow and discourage grey mould developing when in use.

When the seedlings are ready to plant out, simply dig a hole with a trowel and place the whole thing in. The cardboard will decompose and the root system isn’t disturbed while planting out.

Compost blocks

These are a potless option. The initial outlay is the purchase of the ‘soil blocker’ (from £20 upwards), but once you have one, you can use it over and over again.

Simply place some potting compost in a large tray, then mix in water until thoroughly damp but not soggy. Press the blocker over the damp mix, lift and settle the cube blocks into a seedtray. There is a small central hole indented in each block to drop the seed in.

To water, use a gentle spray to moisten the blocks as the seedlings grow.

Recycled plastic

It’s easy to make pots and seedtrays from food packaging, such as mushroom trays, yoghurt pots, plastic bottles and juice cartons. Cut off the top of cartons and plastic bottles, and make drainage holes in the base. Many fruit trays come with holes already in place and sometimes have a lid too – or use a second clear tray as a lid – making a perfect mini propagator for seeds.

Egg shell pots

Egg shells make fun little pots for seedlings – rinse the empty shells and place back in the cardboard box. Fill with potting compost and grow quick crops like cress, cut-and-come-again lettuce leaves and microgreens.