Newspaper pots (and other things)

Spring is definitely out in full-force. The sun is waking me up at 6 AM as it shines into the east-facing windows above my bed. The birds are singing, the weather is bright, the dog chased a raccoon all over the property yesterday as i did some outdoor spring cleaning and checked out my garden site, and the weather is wonderful! I come home to plenty of sunshine, haven't been running the wood stove during the day all week, and the space heater in the bathroom (that I keep on a timer so that it's warm in the bathroom the morning and when I get home from work - when the house was coldest in the winter) has been unplugged. I am entirely overjoyed.

I have a gazillion things to do tonight before I leave for a weekend trip to Boston straight from work tomorrow - a bit of necessary house cleaning, making presents for the folks I'm visiting this weekend (my batch of calendula oil is setting 6 weeks today - I had no choice but to put it off until the last minute), as well as cooking for and going to a pot luck! Oh my - that means cabbage salad for the pot luck (with quinoa for extra yum), and probably some late-night cleaning. Which is fine seeing as I just received The Master and Margerita on CD in Russian to listen to while I'm working (why not brush up on Russian literature and Russian language while you work - it's kind of like whistling).

In other ludicrously exciting news - here is a good tutorial on making newspaper pots that makes perfect little 3 inch square pots. If you're using half-sized papers (local papers - anything smaller than the NYTimes, like I did) skip the second and third steps. The only other note I would make for clarity is that in step 13 she means corner, not edge, folded across to the middle crease (I had to really stare down the picture to figure it out). I also added a little staple to the folded-in flaps to keep the pot standing. I have no intention of planting the pot in the soil (in my experience that never works, it just contributes to a root-bound and sad plant). I'll just throw the little pots onto a bonfire and to hell with the staples.

If the soil dries up and stays workable over the next two weeks, chances are good that there will be some tilling going on. Anyone have any finished compost or composted manure I can take off their hands? I need 2 cubic yards, but more would be much appreciated.