Eggshells In Garden Soil

You re probably heard that eggshells are a good source of calcium and are an excellent addition to compost or even to add directly to the soil in your garden.
Eggshells in garden soil. How to use eggshells in the garden for soil compost and as pest control. Add eggshells to the compost pile. By the time they are well. While planting eggshells directly with plants most likely will not help this season s plants because the eggshells will not break down fast enough to.
That makes eggshells an excellent source of the calcium your garden beds are wishing for. 5 reasons to use eggshells in the garden. While eggs may be the delight of many home cooks eggshells can be the bane of many home composters. Placing crushed eggshells around your plants is an easy way to provide organic nutrients.
Eggshells are mainly made up of the calcium carbonate which is the carbonic salt of calcium and calcium is an essential ingredient for giving your garden soil what it needs to nourish plant life. We try to grow organic gardens in our square foot garden boxes and although weeds are kept at bay pests are not always. Because it takes several months for eggshells to break down and be absorbed by a plant s roots it is recommended that they be tilled into the soil in fall. Over time eggshells will eventually break down but it takes a while and if you have an immediate calcium deficiency placing crushed eggshells around the base of your plants won t do much also eggshells don t contain significant amounts of any essential garden macronutrients.
More shells can be mixed into your soil in the spring. Why not reuse an organic waste product. Another trick is to boil 10 to 20 eggshells and then let the concoction sit overnight. Categories build your soil diseases and pests organic gardening tags.
The calcium from eggshells is also welcome in garden soil where it moderates soil acidity while providing nutrients for plants. May 18 2020 may 12 2020 by kristina hicks hamblin. This sounds like a great idea. Our first and favorite use is for natural pest control in our food gardens.
As pointed out in eggshells do they decompose in the garden eggshells decompose very slowly the only way they add any nutrients to the compost is if you grind the eggs into an extremely very fine powder before adding them. Well eggshells are a great solution for some. In fact eggshells are even recommended as a way of preventing blossom end rot in tomatoes a disease related to the unavailability of calcium in the soil. You can also spread ground eggshells on the outdoor compost pile in tomato planting holes or around the garden and landscape if a soil test reveals a deficiency in calcium.
Eggshells contain such an abundance of calcium that they can be used almost like lime though you would need a lot of eggshells to make a measurable impact. Don t have a coffee grinder but still have an abundance of eggshells. Many people plant eggshells with tomatoes peppers squash and other vegetables that are susceptible to blossom end rot. Use eggshells in the garden for natural pest control.