Did you know that you can start seedlings in eggshells indoors long before the winter frosts subside? Eggshells are the perfect vessel to contain and nourish tiny seedlings. They’re 100% natural and an ultra inexpensive, low-mess solution to growing a healthy, vibrant herb,vegetable, or flower garden.
You can start herbs , vegetables, or even flowers in eggshells in a sunny windowsill before springtime and watch the delicate plants grow. Later, easily transplant seedlings along with the eggshells to the garden without worrying about disturbing the plant’s root system since the eggshells will decompose in the earth as the plant grows. It’s fantastic! You can even get your kids involved.
I’ve tried using a basic paper egg carton to start seedlings without shells and it was a bust. While the sprouted plants were healthy inside the carton, trying to remove them to transplant was a mess. The soil fell into bits and separated from the fragile seedlings, leaving them vulnerable and determining an unfortunately bleak fate. When I tried an alternative, trimming the individual seedling cups from the carton to transplant with carton intact, it was still a mess. Finally, it dawned on me that I was going about it all wrong.
Eggshells, to the rescue!
Grow a lush, productive garden this summer by starting your seedlings in eggshells. {Tweet this!}
Materials:
- Seeds
- Eggshells
- Egg Carton
- Soil
- Permanent marker or plant markers
It’s simple to get started. Whenever you bake cookies, make custard pies, or dine on breakfast crepes, make an effort to crack the eggs at the center of the shell and open them carefully so you don’t destroy them. Rinse the shells out, dry them, and collect as many egg shells as you’d like to use as seedling starters. Our little 4″ by 4″ garden will soon be planted with 15 vegetable seedlings.
Choose an egg carton and place one dried egg shell in each cup. If you’re concerned about drainage, use a pushpin to prick a hole into the bottom of each shell. This wasn’t a concern to me, and I figured I’d probably destroy a few shells in the process, so I skipped this step.
Fill each shell nearly to the top with good quality earth or potting soil and plant seedlings per directions on the seed packet.
Label each plant row with permanent marker or with pretty plant markers so that you remember what you’ve planted. You can even write directly on the egg shells if you wish.
Be sure to check the moisture of your seedlings daily and place in a sunny windowsill to germinate and grow.
Once seedlings are well-established and outgrowing their eggshell homes, transplant to your garden and watch your plants thrive.
What are you planting in your garden this spring? Share below in the comments and be sure to add any helpful gardening tips too!
Love this! I am planning on starting some seedlings in my used Verismo coffee pods & I want to start some in eggshells too & do a little experiment to see which ones do better. 😉 I used eggshells last year as fertilizer when planting our vegetable garden.
Oh, and this is my very first post shared on Stumble Upon !
Thank you, Carrie! I think it’s great that you’re experimenting to see which seedlings fare best. What a clever way to reuse the coffee pods. I’m sure that if I had that kind of brewer I’d experiment right alongside you. Coffee grounds are excellent for composting and eggshells too, as you mentioned. In fact a few months ago my nearby Starbucks was giving away baggies of coffee grounds for composting. I thought it was a great idea.
I’ve seen this done before and always wanted to try it but I’m never sure which seeds are okay to start indoors. Are there some plants that don’t do well when started indoors? Maybe I need to just copy the ones you’re doing.
The pictures of you and your little one are adorable!
Thanks for sharing. Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Jennnifer, do your homework and give it a shot! I’m far from a master gardener but just using whichever veggie seeds I felt like planting worked fine for us. I’m sure you’re right that there are some plants that do better when directly planted in the garden, but I threw caution to the wind and just went with it 😉
What a great idea! We tried planting a garden last year and it was a mess. This sounds like a great way to start out your garden and get a head start!!
So far, so good, Chelsea! We actually just transplanted them this week but they’re doing well. I loved using the eggshells because they really were easy to contain without having soil seeping through drainage holes of the typical seedling trays at the greenhouse. Hope you give it a try!
I wish I would have read this before I bought a plastic seed tray from Target!
We usually sow seeds directly into the garden out of laziness. However, it seems like when we do a good number don’t make it. What’s worked best for us is to plant the seeds in a large pot near the house where they get the sun, rain, and elements but stay warm enough to survive. Then, we are able to transplant them when it’s time. However, this is tricky with small seedling like lettuce. I need to try this. I think the kids would love it! A great science experiment!
This is a great way to start seedlings. I would love for you to share this on my Friday T.G.I.F. linky party 🙂
Thanks, Wendy! It’s been fun watching them grow.
I never thought about using eggshells to start seedlings. Will definitely try this. Our weather hasn’t exactly figured out what it’s doing, so it’ll be nice to start our flowers growing indoors using this method until it’s warm enough to move them outside.
It’s actually really fun to watch the tiny seedlings grow in the shells. So much more decorative than those boring black plastic seedling planters from the greenhouse. Give it a try!
Hi Jelli! This is such a fantastic idea and I cannot believe I’ve never tried this – so awesome! Thank you so much for sharing at Best of the Weekend and will be pinning! Have a happy Saturday and weekend!
Cindy, I’m tickled that you like the idea. Loved your sequin eggs too, just for the record. Thank you so much for sharing my work. You’re the best!
So cute! Pinning!
This is such a great idea! I just wanted to let you know that I am linking to this post at Simply Creative Living on 4/9 if you don’t mind.
Thanks so much, Alyssa! It’s a pleasure that you’re sharing a link. Glad you liked the idea and hope you give it a try.
Lovely Share!
I loved the idea of seedling in eggshell planters which is looking so beautiful that I would definitely try this in my own garden.
Hey Jelli,
Such an inspiring post. Probably would love to try this soon at home. Looks interesting and fun. Thanks for sharing this.
Cheers,
Oliver
Hi Jelli,
Thank you so much for your inspiring ideas and very useful ones too. I’ve been trying to collect eggshells kept some and squashed some but didn’t quite get what to do with them.. So I just post a question on line on “How to use eggshells for gardening?’ Lots of different posts but somehow I stopped at your one. God is great. I love Jesus too and it’s great to see how amazing His Love is for us all. Thank you for sharing your ideas…
God Bless