Peace

Monday, April 25, 2011

Egg shells in Your Garden


 I've been saving my egg shells on the kitchen window seal.  My son looked at me the other day with his: "My mother is totally nuts" look in his eyes and asked: " Mum, eggshells, really?  Your saving egg shells now?  Really?"  I would have tried to explain my reasons to him  but.... because in his mind, I'm just his crazy mother and no amount of explaining will help....poor kid.
¸¸.•*¨*••*¨*•.¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*❤*¨*•.¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*••*¨*•.¸¸

Egg shells in Your Garden

Crushed egg shells add valuable nutrients to soil. Calcium is essential for cell growth in all plants. Calcium is especially important for fast growing plants because they quickly deplete the surrounding soil of calcium. Egg shells should be washed before you place them in a compose or into your garden.
Make sure you crush the egg shells before you add them to your garden. Egg shells that are not crushed will break down very slowly.
Ways you can use crushed egg shells in your garden:
  • Instead of throwing eggs shells away, put them in the bottom of plant pots instead of stones. Egg shells are much lighter than stones and they are a great source of of nutrition.
  • Place egg shells in a circle on top of the ground surface around tender plant stems such as peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage to deter slugs and cutworms.
  • Place egg shells in the soil near tomatoes. Calcium is very useful to tomatoes because the extra calcium will help prevent blossom end rot.
Can egg shells be used along with coffee grounds?
Yes. Egg shells provide calcium to your garden while coffee grounds provide a high content of nitrogen to your garden. Calcium and nitrogen supplements (egg shells and coffee grounds) will help keep your garden soil and plants healthy. 

5 comments:

  1. Do you know why we are supposed to wash the egg shells? I never do. My tomatoes quit having blossom end rot when I started using crushed egg shells around them. Yes, I have the pile of eggshells that initially puzzles. It is fun to get old and quirky.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know why the article says to wash them, I never do either, I just line them up on the window seal to dry out. After they've all dried out I put them in a bowl and crush them with the bottom of a Mason Jar then dump them in my compost bucket. Maybe they advise to wash them if you throw them on your plants right away when their're still slimy to prevent the smell from spoiled egg whites attracting little critters....maybe?

    The scary thing is: I started out quirky and am just getting worse...hahahahahahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do the egg shells here, too. Our old dog was a real thief and liked to eat them. Haven't put any out yet to see if the new dog will want them!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I put my egg shells in a pie pan or something and put them in the oven before or after I bake something. Then, I put them into a heavy plastic bag (used ziploc, washed) and squeeze them to crush. The hens love them. Browning them keeps chickens or dogs from becoming egg eaters. Washing them washed lots of protein down the sink.Hens need protein.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HI 2 Tramps! Try grinding them first. Maybe your Fur-Baby will find ground eggshells unappealing. Thanks for reading my blog and thank you for commenting.

    Hi Linda!!!! Wash & reuses my ziploc bags too !!!!!! Drying the eggshells in a hot oven in a great idea, I never thought of that. Thanks for the idea!!

    ReplyDelete