Newspaper Planters ~ How Cool Are These?

Here is the post on how to make newspaper planters that I promised everyone. I heard of these & knew I wanted to try to make them. After a quick search on Google I found several article & a few YouTube videos. I am one that needs to see it being done in order to get it. I didn't make a video but did take pics for you to see the step by step process I used. Ready?

First get one, full page of newspaper. You want to open it as if you were going to read it. Then fold it in half. If you fold it the other direction it doesn't work as well. Trial & error speaking.

Now fold it in half again. Now you've folded it twice.

Now take a glass and place it halfway down the folded paper. A tall 8oz. glass works best.

Roll the glass in the paper. You need to do it tightly but not so tightly that you can't remove the glass once it is all rolled.
You'll get the feel of it after making a planter or two.

Keep rolling it until you have completely rolled the entire paper around the glass.

Once you are finished rolling it should look like this.


Remember how you placed the glass only halfway on the paper? Stuff that paper that is not directly wrapped around the glass into the mouth of your glass. That paper will make the bottom of your planter.

Remove the glass.

This is what it looks like after removing the glass.

To form the bottom of your planter put your glass back in the planter. Use the bottom of your glass for this.

Push the bottom of the glass down. This will squash the paper you crumpled inside and make a firm bottom for your planter.

Take your glass back out again. I usually help make sure the bottom is in place.

A view of the bottom. Now it will hold dirt nicely.

Two finished planters.

A homemade strawberry smoothie to help me work. It isn't a must to make a good newspaper planter but it does help. Lol!

My little audience.

Once I got the hang of it they went pretty fast.

It must have looked fun because Sweet Pea kept asking to try.

Soon we had a 3 flats of planters made.

My outside work station.

Filled with dirt & busy planting!

I recommend putting them in flats or pans. You need something underneath for when you water them. We got free flats at our local Aldi.

Cucumbers, zucchini, Butternut squash & Acorn squash.

One article I read said you can put the planters straight in the ground when you are ready to plant your big garden. Another said the newspaper takes quite awhile to break down enough so the roots can get through. I have decided to take mine out of the planters when I plant. Because of this I went ahead and used masking tape to label most of my plants. Either way it's a great way to reuse your newspaper & keep those plastic planters out of landfills! Oh, and to save some money too! I don't know about you but I love making something new from something old! =0)