Spring is upon us and when I think of Spring, I think of planting and flowering pots. OK, maybe not, but my wife does. And when I say flower pots, I mean POTS -BIG ones. The ones we have are 24” across at the top and 16” deep. They are made of plastic so they are manageable…until you put the dirt in them; then they are monsters to move. A few years back I came across the best thing ever to take the pain out of this season: Packing Noodles

That is correct, the 3M Packing Noodle. The same Packing Noodle that Wired Magazine did a write-up on back in June, 2009. You may not know, but at that time it trounced all seven of the other competitors in that market by transmitting up to 90 percent less shock and cushioned 4 times better than packing peanuts. What makes this happen is the design of each noodle. Once it is broken apart from its original state as a “noodle slice” it will never fit back together again … it is kind of like Humpy Dumpty. It cracks open and gives brilliant spacing between each noodle in a box, or in my case a very large planting pot. The beauty of the noodles is the strength that each one offers. They can hold a lot of weight without failing. Great for packaging, but it is Spring and in my case we are planting – not packing.

So here is the trick. Grab your pot, and don’t be afraid of the bigger one; take 2 or 3 noodle slices and break them open into the pot, filling it about 2/3 of the way; dump your potting soil on top of that and plant away. The noodles offer great water drainage while at the same time being super lightweight. So when my wife says, “Let’s see how the pots look over there…or there…or there”, it is not a problem. It doesn’t take two guys and a small crane.

Oh, and yes, they make great packing and void fill material for shipping as well. Happy packing and/or planting, whichever is in your future.