Save those Eggshells

There’s a lot of uses for Eggs in the garden, no joke, the egg shells keep snails away! I’ve been crushing up egg shells for years and sprinkling them all over the bottom of the plants. Since I can’t do anything else to get rid of snails with kids all around egg shells were the easiest and safest thing to use.

Eggshells also add valuable nutrients to the soil, including Calcium.  Calcium is important for fast growing plants. You can also put them in the bottom of any plant pot instead of stones as they are much lighter and again add value to the soil that the plants need. So the next time you make some scrambled eggs or make a cake save the shells. Rinse them off and let them dry before crushing them. I save shells throughout the winter and use them all spring in the garden for all my plants, (make sure they are crushed though, as if they aren’t crushed the shells will break down quicker and loose value. )

I came up with a quick project when we started getting ready to plant our seeds for the garden this year. Since I already use the shells throughout the garden, why not start planting with them too?

What you need for this project

Eggshells
Egg carton
Seeds of choice

Directions:
    Clean and rinse the empty eggshells carefully, set them to dry before use. Using a toothpick or anything small and sharp carefully poke a hole in the bottoms of the shells. Place the shells in the egg carton and fill up with some soil. Water first and then place your seeds according to the seed packet.

Since the eggs won’t harm the plant, or soil you can transfer these right out into a bigger pot, or even the ground when the plants are big enough!  The kids can help in this project just make sure they know to be extra careful with the shells. It’s a great way to explain how to re-use things as well as not waste when there’s uses for them around the house, and in this case the garden. Any extra shells you aren’t uses, have them crush them up and they can sprinkle them around the garden as well.