The start of your green thumb era could begin with an old toilet roll. TikToker Elle Ette (@elle_ette) shows you how.
The scoop
Elle demonstrated how to make a tiny plant pot from the cardboard inside a roll of toilet paper — she added that longer tubes from kitchen paper also work well.
@elle_ette little seed pots from toilet paper rolls #reducereuserecycle #seedpot #plants #tomatoplant #seedlings #plantingseeds #farm #farmer #FastTwitchContest #garden #gardenprep #farming #selfsufficient #selfsustainable #foryoupage #foryou #fyp #viral #homestead ♬ Flowers - Miley Cyrus
First, she cut the tube in two, and then she made four slits at equal points around its circumference. Next, Elle folded those sections inward to close up the bottom.
With her makeshift plant pot complete, she filled the toilet roll with soil and dropped a tomato seed inside.
From there, she can take the creation outside and put it in a raised bed or vegetable patch. In a few weeks, a green shoot will appear, and soon after, she'll be growing her own food for the season.
How it's helping
This hack is helpful in a number of ways. First of all, by creating little plant pots from things she already has in the house, Elle is saving money by avoiding paying for plastic pots from the local garden center.
What's more, since those pots are biodegradable, they will provide the plants with nutrients as they decompose. Steering clear of plastic also means that microplastics won't enter the soil, which can harm future plant growth and even be transferred to the food that eventually sprouts.
While cardboard toilet rolls can be recycled, using them in this way ensures that they definitely won't head to a landfill, where they will take up space as they contribute to the production of planet-warming pollution.
Eventually, when those plants start to produce fruit, Elle will benefit from tasty, nutritious tomatoes and will save a trip to the grocery store.
What everyone's saying
Commenters were certainly impressed with this crafty, frugal, and sustainable idea.
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Every day 🥗 "Fantastic idea!" one person said.
"I have 40+ saved toilet paper and paper towel rolls and I didn't know why," another added. "Now I know."
"I am absolutely using this!" a third commented. "Such a good idea!"
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