Start Your Garden Earth Day 2010

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of earth day; technically it’s turned into earth week. While I appreciate the reminder, frankly it’s a little annoying that merchants seem to have turned earth day into a money making event to sell “earth friendly” stuff. I prefer the reminder that we don’t need to have more stuff and if we get creative we can use everyday products in new ways.

My daughter loves to plant flowers and when I found this idea in my favorite Readymade magazine I knew my little boys would love to try it too. Kind of like kindergarten all over again. David received a seed packet of wild flowers a few weeks ago from some work sponsored event (random, I know) so all I need were the seedling pots and potting soil. These seedling pots are just strips of newspaper wrapped and tucked around a jam jar for a mold. Once they’re wrapped you slip them off and fill them with soil and seeds. When the plants are ready to go into the ground you just dig a hole and drop them in. Newspapers are biodegradable and the plants roots will eventually grow through them. My cost? Free, I just grabbed newspapers from my recycling bin, it sure beats the seedling starter set I found for $13 at Home Depot.