Common household items you have around the house can come in handy for your vegetable garden, plus they can also save you hours of time and money!

Paper cups can serve two purposes as seedling pots and cutworm collars.

Some seeds are better started indoors or in small pots. To make the seedling pots, buy ordinary unwaxed paper cups. Use scissors, an ice pick or a knife to poke a few drainage holes in the bottom of each cup. Fill the cups with seed-starting mix. Add enough water to make it moist, and then sow your seeds. Easy, cheap, and recyclable.

When your seedling is ready for the outdoor world, transform the paper cup into cutworm collars at transplanting time. Merely use scissors and carefully cut up one side of the cup starting from the bottom. Stop the cut about 2 inches from the top. From that point, cut around the cup, leaving a 2-inch ring, which will act as the collar. Toss the bottom part of the cup. Make sure you are careful not to disturb the seedling's root system. Now carefully leave the collar intact when you plant the seedling.

Shredded paper serves as excellent mulch for tomatoes and pepper plants. Just take shredded paper and spread a 2" layer around the plants. Saturate the paper with water to keep it in place and to moisten the soil. The paper is biodegradable and you can must turn it into the soil at the end of the growing season.

Black plastic has been used by commercial farmers for decades as mulch and to warm the soil. Now home gardeners are catching on! This is especially useful for warm season crops including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and melons.

On a calm day, moisten the soil and lay the black plastic in a single layer on the garden plot. Keep the plastic in place by covering the edges with soil or rocks. Cut hole where you will place your transplants.

You can also use this method on established gardens by cutting a large x in the place where your plant with "pop through." Be careful as you lay the plastic.

Remember to discard the plastic after each use as it starts to decompose.