..let it grow


Although I'm a lover a Fall (leaves, boots, sweaters, cocoa & fires) I would have to say that Spring is my second favorite season because to me it means farmers market, bicycle rides, cute cardigans, bits of sun and starting my garden.  I had seen some egg shell gardens around before and knew I wanted to have a cute table-top starter for myself.   Since they are bio-degradable and if your household consumes eggs why not put them to good use if you are throwing them away or composting them already? They are insanely easy to do, totally on the cheap, you really only need a few supplies and to follow just a couple of steps.

SUPPLIES
egg shells
egg crate carrier
soil
seeds
needle
spoon 
gloves optional


When prepping your egg shells try to crack towards the top of the shell so that you have more of a 3/4 full shell versus a 1/2 shell, then rinse the shell out carefully.  I placed a little bit of soil in a container and added some water to the mix to get it pre-soaked.. not much just enough so that it absorbs and is noticeably damp.



I ended up not wearing the gloves because it wasn't horribly messy and they seemed dangerous around those delicate shells!  Take your needle and carefully press towards the bottom of the egg. Its easy if you just lay your egg bottom down on your surface, hold your needle through it with one hand then lightly pull the egg up with your other hand so the needle stays in place while puncturing (sorry I couldn't take an actual photo of that!).  This little hole will allow for just enough drainage when watering.


I decided to go with a few herbs for the shell portion of my table-top garden.  Most of the herbs I chose had about the same soil depth and I wanted to stick with the recommended planting instructions. You can use the spoon or your fingers:  I filled up the eggs about 3/4 full with soil loosely packed in, sprinkled a couple of seeds then carefully topped and pressed the soil over the remainder of the shell. <-- just be careful not to break it thats all.





This part is optional and obviously however you want to label them you can. I would just try to make some sort of system so that you can easily know which shell is what (if you are doing more then one type of plant) so that you know the proper germination time.  They won't necessarily all be ready to be planted outside at once so you want to know when that is based off the back of the seed packet.



I had a couple extra mini pots hanging around so I added Tomato & Basil into those and put everything on a convenient little tray to hang out on my table and get lots of light.  You want to either place by a window that gets light or on warm days let those cuties hang outside for a bit!



We moved over to the new place around the time they started to sprout up so I let them hang out on the window sill in my kitchen, so cute right?  When the shells are ready I can pop them into a larger planter or any garden space, you can choose to crack the shell or put it in as is.  If you have a paper container like mine (not styro) then you can plant that too!



Tip Junkie handmade projects

14 comments:

  1. Awesome idea! I am going to feature this in my next DIY post!

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  2. This is great! I really want to start a garden but I have no idea what I'm doing. This seems far less intimidating than a full outdoor garden though and we have a little garden window that would be perfect for it!!!

    Thanks so much for sharing such a cool idea :)

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  3. I love this! I've also always wanted to venture into gardening but I am completely clueless. This Would make a nice little first step. Thamks so much!! =D

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  4. I am in love with this! We are still renting so I don't like putting a ton of money into our yard, so this is the perfect solution! So cute. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. I thought this was a great tutorial and I linked to it my newest blog post! http://onecraftycollection.blogspot.com/2012/03/homestead.html

    I love that you posted pictures of how it looks after its had a little time to grow. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

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  6. What a great idea! I think I just might do that! ^_~

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  7. That's so cute! I'd love to start one of my own.

    -april.

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  8. Hah this is great! Especially something to remember.

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  9. I absolutely love love LOVE this post!
    I pinned it to my Pintrest board so I'll always have it in my idea files.
    Thank you for the tutorial and gorgeous pictures.
    :-)

    missyellowshoes.blogspot.com

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  10. Eggshell starters are especially good for tomotoes. Tomotoes can use the extra calcium to help prevent blossom-end rot! :)

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  11. that is a really freakin' cute idea.

    i was hoping you would stop by my blog's first giveaway! i've been sending it to all the lady bloggers i look up to!

    http://talesforkarina.blogspot.com/2012/03/giveaway-25-giftcard-to-mystic-moon.html

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  12. This is so cute! I live in an apartment and have been too lazy to make a garden box and figure out how to attach it to my windowsill...this is something I can *actually* do!

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  13. Hi

    I shared this post on my blog:

    http://rafaribeiiro.blogspot.com.br/2012/05/daqui-e-dali-19.html

    I hope your little visit there. kisses ♥

    ReplyDelete