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Needless to say, eggs are an excellent source of protein for the human body. They have numerous health benefits, therefore, nutritionists recommend consuming eggs regularly.
However, many people think that eggshells are useless and have no economic importance. Little did they know that even eggshells have benefits. For instance, eggshells are great fertilizers, especially if you grow plants in containers or pots.
Everyone loves to have a small garden in their house, even if they do not have the space. Therefore, most people use pots, containers, etc., as a substitute for actual gardening. They are indeed space-efficient. Likewise, eggshells are really cost-effective fertilizers that can be used at home. While potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen are essential for plant growth, calcium is also vital as it helps build the cell walls of the plant. Eggshells as we know, are wonderful sources of calcium carbonate that can help your container garden thrive.
How to prepare eggshells for your container
Now that you know that you can use eggshells as fertilizers, do you just go ahead and pour the eggshells on your soil?
Here is how you can tactfully prepare eggshells to make the fertilizer for your container garden’s soil.
1. Baking the eggshells is an ideal first step.
Try to bake your eggshells in the oven. It will help get rid of moisture completely especially the membranes on the insides of the eggshells. You can easily spread the eggshells on a cookie sheet and heat them at a low temperature of around 250-280 degrees for an hour or so. Afterward, bring them out and let them dry.
2. Crushing and grinding the eggshells is important.
It's pretty straightforward to throw the baked eggshells into your blender and grind them into fine powder. However, if you are the type of person who enjoys bursting bubbles, you can use a spoon to crush the eggshells into smaller pieces. Or put them in a pestle and mortar as I do.
Either way, once you're done, you can store them in a jar until you are ready to use them.
How to use the eggshells as a fertilizer for your garden
After you've prepared the eggshells by baking and crushing them, you can use them in various ways in your gardens.
For instance, you can use eggshells whenever you plant tomatoes and peppers in your garden. Tomatoes love calcium while they grow.
Add 1 tablespoon of eggshells and 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt whenever you are planting your plants in your container garden.
This calcium-enriched, homemade fertilizer is also a great way to keep slugs and snails away from your container garden.
Additionally, you can directly mix it with your compost. This will allow the addition of magnesium and calcium to your compost.
Even though breaking and crushing eggshells is not necessary if you choose to use it with compost, it will definitely speed up the process.
Also, if your household regularly consumes eggs, then you will have lots of eggshells at your disposal. You will never run out of stock. But, if you have them in excess, you can always feed them to birds or chicken out there.
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