Spring is on the way! The first official day of the season is March 20.

Will you take care of a garden? Are you planning to start seeds indoors this season? You’ll need four ingredients to begin:

• soil
• a sunny windowsill or grow lights
• seeds
• containers

Let’s talk about containers. You can buy them. But you can also make your own for free out of stuff you already have. This keeps money in your pocket and trash out of the landfill. 

Look around your house. Do you have a coffee maker that uses K-Cup-style plastic pods? Don’t pitch them after brewing. Instead, peel off their foil covers. Dump out the used coffee grinds. Remove the paper filters underneath. The pods are the perfect size for starting seedlings. And you can use them year after year. K-cups have an extra planting perk too. The machine makes a little hole in each one while making coffee—perfect for soil drainage. 

Most small plastic food containers will work for seed starting too. Think yogurt cups, salad packages, or egg cartons. These all work as long as you poke holes in the bottom so water can dribble out. 

Try newspaper too. 

To make a newspaper pot:

1. Fold a newspaper page in half lengthwise.

2. Fold it a second time to make a long strip. 

3. Place a tomato paste can (the perfect size for a seed pot) along one edge of the newspaper, a couple inches from the bottom. 

4. Roll the newspaper tightly around the can to form a cylinder.

5. Fold the excess newspaper in at the base of the can, set the wrapped can right-side-up, and press it firmly against a flat surface like a table. This will strengthen the bottom of your new pot. Add a bit of tape if it needs extra support.

6. Remove the can. Voila! You’ve made a free starter home for your seedlings.

One warning: Don’t pour too much water on the paper pots at once. That could make the pots fall apart. Instead, keep the soil surface moist with a spray bottle.

Another option: Cut four one-inch slits around one end of a toilet paper roll. Fold in the resulting tabs. Tape them in place to create a solid bottom for your pot.

Whatever you use, make sure each container is small. Bigger pots require a larger amount of potting mix. This would hold more water than a seedling’s tiny roots can absorb. Too much water could cause the baby roots to rot. 

Eventually, your tiny plants will grow out of their tiny pots. While repotting or transplanting to the ground, handle them gently. If you’ve used toilet paper or newspaper, you can stick the pots right in the ground as they are. They’ll become part of the soil. 

For as the Earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. — Isaiah 61:11