can you make your own pots from paper mache?

[buttercup]

hello everyone!
i think i once heard about people making thier own pots out of paper mache!
similar to peat pots that can rot down harmlessly.
has anyone tried it? it sounds great!
i could use plastic pots as a mold, i suppose you could add things to it like seaweed or something else yummy!
something else to do with all that paper that goes in the compost!
any ideas?
cheers buttercup x x

[Alison]

If you do a search you'll find quite a long thread about making pots out of newspaper, not quite the same but they're stron enough to grow you young plants on and then, as you say, plant like peat pots. The first one is a bit difficult but after that they're easy.

[budmap]

i got my instructions off this forum if you use a tabloid paper they make just about the right size pot

[buttercup]

chhers Alison!

thanks for that!
will have a look now!
will have to see if you can use cardboard ect,
im going a bit crazy with my thriftyness,
we've managed to get our household waste down to a carrier bag a week, such good fun!
makes you feel quite smug!
thanks for the help!
cheers buttercup x x

[buttercup]

cheers budmap!

great advise!
best thing to do with tabloids!
cheers buttercup x x

[Alison]

thanks for that!
will have a look now!
will have to see if you can use cardboard ect,
im going a bit crazy with my thriftyness,
we've managed to get our household waste down to a carrier bag a week, such good fun!
makes you feel quite smug!
thanks for the help!
cheers buttercup x x

We're trying to reduce our waste too, not doing too badly but still too much. Cardboard can be a useful weed supressent, simply peg it onto bare ground and it'll decompose whilst stopping weeds growing through.

[buttercup]

hi Alison!
Ive recently got my first allotment, and have saved cardboard from xmas and ive started taking waste from work like cardboard ect to try and clear some couch grass! dont think itll work too well,
only 1/4 of my lotty is workable it was left wild for so long that its like the little shop of horrors
cheers buttercupx x

[Snadger]

hi Alison!
Ive recently got my first allotment, and have saved cardboard from xmas and ive started taking waste from work like cardboard ect to try and clear some couch grass! dont think itll work too well,
only 1/4 of my lotty is workable it was left wild for so long that its like the little shop of horrors
cheers buttercupx x

I think theres only two ways to deal with couch grass---poison it, or dig it out!

[buttercup]

Bugger!
cheers snadger, i thought that!
could you recomend anything that isnt to unnatural!
trying to be organic, but dont want to end up breaking my back!
cheers buttercup x x

[Two_Sheds]

Digging out couch grass - try covering it with carpet or other thick mulch until the top growth has died. The roots are then SO much easier to dig out.
Our overgrown plot had brambles so high that we didn't know there was a 6 foot high shed in there at the back. We hacked it back, burnt the tops, covered the ground with carpet (last summer) and I am now finding it beautiful digging, lovely big white roots like spaghetti, but they come out so easy now the dark has weakened 'em

[supersprout]

I think theres only two ways to deal with couch grass---poison it, or dig it out!

I'd add two more to the list - smothering and burning
Smothering works fine, just have faith and use LOTS of mulch, around 8" will do the trick. I didn't believe it until I tried it!

Try different ways with different patches on the plot to see what works/suits you best?

[buttercup]

cheers supersprout and twosheds!
ive layed down some cardboard and some carpet on one small patch but might as well go mad and cover the whole lot! such evil stuff
would be fun to burn it! take out my anger!
should i wait till the weather is warmer to try diggin up a patch?
cheers buttercup x x

[Janette]

You could try laying down opened out cardboard boxes and covering with a layer of manure, you can plant a potato in the manure and the cardboard will block the light out for the couch grass

Janette