3 best ways to use eggshells in your garden

Making your own compost by recycling food scrapes from the kitchen is a great bonus for those who love gardening. When recycling compost for the garden, we tend to use only vegetables and any other biodegradable products, which include eggshells. One may look at this humble shell as having very little use but mind you, the eggshells are the best source of nutrients and very easy to break down.

Next time, you want to throw those eggshells away, think again as it is a garden saver for you. If you are a dedicated gardener, then the eggshells are the best thing for you apart from the manure that you get more animals. Here are 3 of the best ways in which you can utilize eggshells in your garden.

1. Eggshells as a source of drainage

While this may be a temporary method of draining your soils until you get better soils that drains well, the crushed eggshells placed at the bottom of your containers will amply benefit the soil. In container planters, the root ends of the plants may rot which is due to poor drainage of water, so the eggshells help to top the pooling of water around the roots ends of plants. What you can do is, to crush up the eggshells to 1/4 of its original size and scatter these pieces at the bottom of your planters. When the eggshell breaks down gradually, it will also add essential nutrients to your soil, making your plants to thrive and grow healthy.

2. Eggshells as food

Eggshells are the best source for essential calcium, having about 90 percent calcium carbonate which plant roots greatly require. Although this may come with proper watering, drainage and manure, there is always an added benefit if you use the eggshells. Eggshells also contain lime which is another requisite for soil and plants. Plants like pepper, eggplant and tomatoes can really benefit with this extra dose of eggshell treatment. Crush the eggshells minutely and apply them to the containers before you soil up. This way, the breakdown process will be faster and you can be assured of a rich yield.

3. Eggshells as pesticides

Garden pests like slugs, caterpillar, snails and cutworms are some of the worst woes of a gardener. You can greatly reduce the attacks of these pests by lining up your garden perimeter with eggshells, making it difficult for the pests to slither past. Most of these ground pests have soft undersides which can cut easily when caught on rough edges, so they will prefer to keep away from your plot. Crush the eggshells just big enough to arrange in the soil or the border of your vegetable patch. You will find that in no time, the slugs and pests will loiter around unable to get through the barriers and die away or get eaten up by their predator creatures.

While you may collect the eggshells for your garden use, remember to rinse them off properly before crashing them. Raw eggshells will only encourage more pests, rather than repel them away.

About the author: Rubela is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of gadgets. Recently an article on Gi Joe Action Figures attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on Hair loss treatment.