Garden Pest Repellent & Fertilizer: Use Eggshells to Keep Unwanted Visitors Away and Boost Plant Growth
It's the week of Easter and Passover, and you might find an abundance of eggs in your household. Beyond culinary uses and egg hunts, the question of what to do with eggshells arises.
Grow Pro Beka Rich suggests a creative and eco-friendly gardening trick: use crushed eggshells as a natural fertilizer for your vegetable and flowering plants, as well as a pest deterrent.
Preparing Your Eggshells for the Garden
- After using the eggs, gather the eggshell halves and rinse them thoroughly to remove any residue.
- Place the eggshells in a sunny spot to bake for a day, making them crispy and effective for garden use.
- Grind the eggshells into a medium-coarse grit using a rolling pin, a mortar and pestle, or a food processor.
Using Crushed Eggshells in the Garden
Sprinkle the prepared eggshells evenly across the garden soil. If your intention is to deter pests, scatter the eggshells around the edges of the garden. For best fertilizing results, place them closer to the plant base. If pests still persist, consider widening the area where the eggshells are placed.
Benefits of Using Crushed Eggshells
Fertilizing your garden with crushed eggshells will provide a slow-releasing supply of calcium, particularly beneficial for warm-season fruits like tomatoes and peppers. Crushed eggshells can also help discourage soft-bodied pests such as snails, slugs, and aphids, which find the coarse shells uncomfortable.
Crushed eggshells offer a three-in-one solution with zero waste, making them an excellent choice for gardeners seeking sustainable gardening practices.
Expert Insight
Beka Rich, lead Grow Pro, shared her experiences with using crushed eggshells as a gardening tip. "As my love for gardening has grown, my appreciation for eggshells has followed closely," she said. "I find it disheartening to see a trash truck carrying recyclable nutrients away from my neighborhood."
Beka's passion for gardening stems from a long family tradition of growing and sharing knowledge. If you have questions about this gardening tip, feel free to reach out to the Grow Pro team for assistance.
If you found this tip helpful, consider sharing it on your favorite social media platform.
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- To incorporate eggshells into a sustainable home-and-garden lifestyle, prepare them by rinsing, baking, and grinding into a medium-coarse grit, then use them as a natural fertilizer for your vegetable and flowering plants, also serving as a pest deterrent.
- With their ability to provide slow-releasing calcium for warm-season fruits and discourage soft-bodied pests, using crushed eggshells in the garden offers a three-in-one solution, contributing to an eco-friendly gardening lifestyle promoting a lifestyle of home-and-garden sustainability.
