TP your garden

TP Your Garden

In this time of uncertainty a garden can provide security. It is a hobby for many, but it is a hobby with a purpose. A garden, well-tended, can feed a family and possibly your neighbor’s family, too. It is a hope for fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables throughout the summer and into fall and winter. And, so today, we at Mile Wide Crafts begin our long awaited series of Crafting in the Garden.

This post is appropriate for the beginning of this series as it is about starting seeds. As many of us know toilet paper has been a topic of much discussion lately. With so many of us home all day, every day, we inevitably end up with empty tubes from toilet paper, paper towels, and similar items. Some of the tubes shown in this post came from wrapping paper, too. I had been collecting these tubes for a bit as they are also useful for making periscopes, but that is another post.

In this episode of Crafting in the Garden, cardboard tubes are transformed into free, compostable planters for starting garden seeds.

Materials:

TP tubes, or similar cardboard tubes

Garden seeds

Potting soil

Water tight container

Permanent Marker

Instructions:

Step 1: Obtain a water tight container

Call up your favorite locally owned restaurant and order takeout or delivery.

My favorite containers for this project are the kind with a clear plastic lid as the lid can be used to help contain humidity when the seeds are first sprouting. However, any container that holds food without leaking will also hold water and soil for your seeds.

Don’t go out and buy a container for this without checking out your recycling bin first.

Step 2: Cut your tubes to length

How big your tube needs to be depends on what seeds you are starting. If you are starting bigger seeds like beans and squash, you will need enough room around the seeds for it to sprout and grow roots, so you may wish to leave the tube a little longer. If you are starting tiny seeds like lettuce, you can cut the tubes shorter to get more planters out of one tube. 

The other consideration is the depth of your water-proof container from step 1. If you have a clear lid and wish to use it to hold humidity during the sprouting stage, you will need to cut your tubes to fit in the closed container.

So, how long should the tube be? 

Measure the depth of your container and add about 1 inch for regular TP or paper towel rolls.

If you have a wider cardboard tube, from wrapping paper for example, you will need to measure the diameter of the tube. For those who may have forgotten geometry, the diameter is the distance across the opening of the tube. You will add half your diameter in place of the 1 inch mentioned above.

So, as an example, if my container is 1.5 inches deep and my wrapping paper tube is 2 inches across, I would take 1 inch (half my diameter) and add it to the 1.5 inch depth to get a total length of 2.5 inches. Please use centimeters if you are more comfortable with them.

You may wish to make one tube that fits as you like it, and use it as a template to make more the same size.

Step 3: Cut tabs in your tube

Cut slits into the end of your tube so that the end of your tube can be closed to hold soil. The slits should be about 1 inch deep (for regular TP or paper towel tubes) or whatever amount you added as half your diameter in your last step (for larger tubes).

For a regular TP tube cut about 8 slits evenly around the tube. For other tubes space out the slits so they are about a half inch apart all the way around. 

To keep the slits even, I found it easiest to think of the end of the tube like a clock face. Start with slits at 12 and 6. Then, do the slits at 3 and 9. After that just do the other 4 slits halfway between the ones you just did.

Step 4: Fold in your tabs

You should have about 8 tabs cut into the end of your cardboard tube. If you gently scrunch the tabs together, you will notice that the tabs tend to overlap with one edge going over the edge of the one next to it. This is what you want. Try to arrange the tabs so that one edge (either right or left, doesn’t matter) always goes over the next tab.

When the tabs are arranged, keep pushing the tab tips toward the center of the tube until you have a closed flat bottom on your tube. 

If your tabs are a bit long and don’t lay completely flat, just tuck them toward the inside of your new container so that you get a sort of dome shape when you look inside your tube.

If your tabs are a bit short either cut them all a bit deeper or place a small bit of paper inside to cover the hole.

Your tabs will want to spring open a bit. This is ok.

Step 5: Plant your seeds

I am assuming that you have made multiple TP tube planters at this point. You should be pretty good at it by now…Make sure that your tubes all fit pretty well standing up in your water-proof container.

Find a tube and figure out what seeds you want to plant in it. Use the permanent market to write the name of the seed on the outside of the tube. Most other ink will run when you water your plants, so be sure to use a permanent marker.

Hold the tube shut with one hand and fill it with loose, dry potting soil to the rim of the tube. Place the filled tube into your water-proof container and add a seed or several to the soil filled tube. Stir the soil a bit to cover the seed(s) and tamp it down. You may wish to hold down the cardboard tube so the bottom stays shut while you do the tamping down. Add a bit more soil to the surface if needed.

Step 6: Water your seeds.

Once you have planted all the seeds you are going to plant in a particular container you may add water. I don’t recommend watering before this.

When watering the newly planted seeds, add water to your water-proof container rather than to your soil. Do this SLOWLY as the tubes occasionally begin to float and may tip if your water-proof container isn’t tightly packed with tubes.

You may wish to hold one hand on top of your tubes as you add about a half inch of water to your container. In time the cardboard and soil will absorb the water and stabilize, but until then, the tubes can be a bit tipsy.

Step 7: Wait

Place your newly planted seeds in their water-proof container in a warm sunny window.

Now is the part all the school children hate. Now we wait for the seeds to sprout.

If you have a clear plastic lid for your container, use it at this stage. You should see condensation on the inside of the plastic lid. If you don’t see any after the container has been in the sun for at least an hour, add a bit more water to the bottom of the container. You may need to add water later, as the seeds begin to germinate, too.

If you don’t have a lid for your container just make sure the cardboard tubes stay damp. It is ok if the top of the soil looks dry as the seeds will absorb the water they need from the tubes, and the seeds are under that dry soil.

Step 8: Plant your garden

When the soil is warm enough and the days are long enough and your seedlings are strong enough, plant your seedlings, cardboard tube and all, in your garden. The bottom of the tube will open up on its own at the seedling’s roots push their way out. Eventually, the cardboard will decompose and add nutrients to your garden soil.

If you object to having the tube in your soil, you may remove it from your seedling by carefully peeling the cardboard apart. If you look carefully, most TP tubes are made from a single strip of thick paper that has been coiled into the roll. If you find the top corner of this strip of paper, you will be able to unpeel it to remove the cardboard. Be careful not to damage the seedling’s roots, though, if you choose to do this.

Enjoy your new seedlings and stay tuned for more Crafting in the Garden!

Special thanks to my neighbor, Jennifer R., for sharing the seeds which are shown being planted in the illustrations in this post. Her generosity is such that many of our neighbors will have food this summer.

Many, Many Thanks!