DavidWolfe.comYay, it’s spring! If you’re like many people, you’re starting to think about how to get that garden back up and blooming again. We’ve got plenty of great gardening articles on this site, and now I’d like to bring you yet another cool tip to get your plants looking and tasting as healthy as possible.
There’s a potentially powerful gardening tool you’re probably throwing away by the dozen every week – eggshells.
And why wouldn’t you toss them? There’s not much you can do with them right? Wrong.
Eggshells are actually full of a nutrient that will help your plants grow quickly and avoid blossom end rot. As our friends at Gardening Know How report, plants like tomatoes and squash can benefit greatly from the calcium in eggshells, which acts as a building material.
Using Eggshells In Compost
A great way to harness the calcium-fueled power of eggshells is to put the shells in your compost. While you don’t necessarily need to crush them before doing so, breaking them down into a fine powder will speed up the decomposition process and unlock benefits much faster.
Compost Junkie recommends harnessing the power of your children when crushing the eggs. Just hand them a bag of the stuff and tell them to stomp!
They’ll probably throw a tantrum at some point, might as well make the most of it.
Using Eggshells In Soil
You can also add eggshells straight to your soil. It’s important to note, though that, as mentioned by Garden Myths, the shells will take a while to decompose when you use them like this. The soil should begin to see the benefits for next season.
Check out this handy video from One Yard Revolution to learn some more nifty tricks for using eggshells in your garden to improve your soil.
There’s More!
Improving the quality of your garden isn’t the only thing eggshells are good for – They can also be great for fighting off pests like slugs and snails.
You can also make use of that calcium content by feeding it right back to your chickens. This YouTube video shows you how to mix the eggshells with feed.
Did you know you can even use eggshells as a natural band-aid? This blog recommends peeling off pieces of the egg membrane and putting them, wet side down, on peeling skin.. Then, leave it there until it dries.
Who would’ve thought eggshells could be so useful?
[h/t: www.sun-gazing.com]