Newspaper Jiffy Pots
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia 
on 05.27.07
Making your own bio-degradable pots from old newspapers is good for your garden, your plants, your pocket and the environment. Make your own newspaper seedling or jiffy pots, by using this nifty little wooden tool. Available at BritishEco, Hen&Hammock, living art and probably multiple other eco gardening shops as well. Check out how to make your own at home.
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Another good idea is to start seeds in eggshells. When you crack your eggs for cooking, just crack off the top of the eggshell. Then throw the little shards in your compost pile, fill up the eggshell with dirt and plant! When ready to plant in your garden, gently break the bottom of the eggshell to expose the roots. I just started pumpkin seeds this way and it was quite a success.
I have never used one of these, so I can't attest to how groovy they are, but i made my own newspaper pots by rolling strips around a tube, and then just folding the ends in and pulling the tube out. They worked great for my edamame seedlings.
Great idea, but worth skipping the tool - the bottom of a beer bottle (or other flat-sided, flat-bottomed bottle) works just as well.
Like the commenters on the link, I'd be wary of just putting the newspaper in the soil to compost, especially for food plants.
http://www.wizer.co.uk/?p=29
Another good design. With an American broadsheet newspaper, these are pretty large, and they can suit a variety of plants. I've planted saplings in these.
buying a product to recycle another product? seems..a bit backward to me. why not just roll some newspaper around an empty toilet paper or paper towel tube? or any one of the dozens of circular glass bottles that can be found in a recycling bin?