Eggshells for your Nontoxic Garden
Eggshells are a wonderful source of calcium, one of the essential nutrients your garden soil needs.
What does calcium do for your garden?
- increases the ability of the plants to build healthy cells walls
- increases the soil’s aeration
- improves the soil’s drainage
- reduces the acidity of the soil’s pH
Instead of tossing your eggshells while cooking, simply rinse them and leave them to dry overnight. Alternatively, you can add them to a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes to dry them out quickly. Once dry, you can add them to a mason jar, pushing down on them with a whisk or spoon until you’ve crushed them into fine pieces.
When you’re ready, head out to the garden with your jar and begin prepping the soil for the next planting season with your repurposed eggshells.
It takes several months for the eggshells to break down into the soil and be absorbed by the plants’ roots, so add the eggshells into your garden in the spring to make your soil ready for fall planting. In fall, add them to your soil to keep your soil ready for spring planting.
