nichepoetryandprose

Finally, spring!!!  The last bit of snow is melted from our lawn (although there are still patches of snow in the woods) and I have crocuses in bloom!

~

This past weekend, I attended a strategic planning event at Falls Brook Center in west-central New Brunswick.  Falls Brook Center is a non-profit group working within the community to teach skills for more sustainable living.

~

Setting goals for an organisation is never easy and we enjoyed a welcome break from all the group discussion and brainstorming when one of the program coordinators gave us a short workshop about how to make seed sprouters from newspaper.  In the past, I have often used peat pots, milk cartons and even Styrofoam cups to start my seeds.   Making plant pots from newspaper is easy, saves money, and reduces waste!  And making the pots is fun!

~

We used PotMaker® to make our seed pots. PotMaker®  is made in Canada by Richters (Goodwood, Ontario, L0C 1A0)  http://www.PotMaker.com . The kit includes two wooden shapes, one to wrap the newspaper into a tube, and the other to ‘crimp’ the lower part of the tube into a closed pot.

~

~

This morning, after a few minutes of rolling newspaper strips and tucking ends, I have enough pots to start a new batch of herbs for my kitchen window garden! Now, all I have to do is fill the newspaper pots with some planting mix and sprinkle some seeds.  The pots support one another and keep their shape even wet.  They can be planted directly into the garden … the roots grow through the paper and the pots disintegrate.

~

~

~

greenhouse, early spring

~

dead plantings rustle

skeletons brittle

pods and packets rattle

whisper me to the greenhouse

~

weak sunshine warms the glass

my prints a path on late snow

meltwater sinks into grass

soaks into clay

~

bits of crockery

wooden handles

leaf mould and sand

soil pressed into pots

~

the gardener

awakened from winter

rooted in moss and clay

~

~

Published as ‘greenhouse, early spring’, Canadian Stories 15 (87), Oct/Nov, 2012

Copyright  2014  Jane Tims