Gardening hacks: Stop throwing eggshells out, they could be the secret to a thriving garden

A gardener has revealed a completely free hack for improving soil health using something you usually toss out.

It’s a handy way to give our plants their best shot at thriving given the cost of fertilisers.

Simon Akeroyd shared the tip in a TikTok video and showed the best and easiest way to add eggshells to your soil.

Watch the video above.

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“How do you like your eggs in the morning? Eggshells can contribute to improving your soil, feeding your plants and boosting their health as well as providing you with better harvests,” he said.

Eggshells contain lots of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, zinc and iron which all help plants grow to their full potential.

Gardening hacks you need to know for thriving plants

Armed with a container full of eggshells, Akeroyd popped them in a colander and used a watering can to rinse them over a plant. The likely reason for this is to avoid wasting water and share any nutrients that wash off with the pot plant.

He dried them in the warm sun but recommended the oven for people who live in England, which could be extended to some parts of Australia given the recent heavy rainfall we’ve had.

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Drying and washing eggshells before crushing them up is important because if there is any egg residue remaining they will go mouldy.

Next, Akeroyd crushed them up using the end of a rolling pin and then he blitzed them in the blender until the eggshells were the consistency of a powder.

After that, he added them to his compost and gave it a mix before adding that compost to the soil in a raised garden bed.

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Now, you’re probably wondering why he didn’t pop eggshells in the compost as is, well one person in the comment section explained why.

“I do but they take about 2 yeas to compose,” they said.

In a Gardening Australia segment host Costa Georgiadis shed further light on this by explaining that worms have very tiny mouths making the eggshell halves hard to break down.

Georgiadis is also a fan of blending eggshells and saving the powder in a container to mix it in with potting mix for plants like citrus, which love calcium. So that’s an option if you want to try the eggshell hack but don’t have a compost bin.

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There are plenty of other uses for eggshells in the garden.

One is for pest control by sprinkling the crushed up (but not blended) shells on the soil to deter slugs and snails. The eggshell edges will feel sharp to these slimy critters so they won’t want to slither over them.

If you have cabbage moths, you can try drawing black eyes on the outside of the eggshell and pop them on a stick as a decoy to deter moths from laying caterpillar eggs on your plants.

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And for another $0 hack, eggshells can be used to start seeds. They make the perfect little seedling pot because they’re biodegradable so they can be slotted right into a garden bed or larger pot. This can also be done with an egg carton, or you can use the egg carton as a holder for the eggshell pots.

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