Easter brings eggs — lots and lots of eggs. After all of the egg recipes have been eaten and the Easter egg hunts have been done, you might wonder what to do with a mountainous pile of discarded eggshells.
Here’s the good news: Eggshells are one of the most versatile things that you could be throwing away.
The all-natural shells are super valuable additions to organic gardening, whether you have a potted plant or a half-acre garden. They’re also an inexpensive ingredient to be repurposed as craft supplies, household cleaners, and in some clever life hacks such as adding an eggshell to coffee in the filter for a less bitter brew.
Long after the Easter bunny has hopped away, those eggshells can keep on giving back. Here are some clever tips to reduce your waste and your household budget by repurposing eggshells.
Can eggshells be composted? Yes! You might be concerned about adding eggshells to the compost pile, because of the raw egg residue attached to the shell. Rinsing eggshells before composting them not only reduces the slight risk of any disease from raw egg remnants, but it also will help detract animals from attacking your compost pile, too. Crush up the eggshells for rapid decomposition and a quick addition of calcium to the compost.
No compost pile? No worries. Rinse and crush eggshells and add them directly to the soil, too. They’ll break down over time, adding nutrients to the area.
Ever heard of eggshell water? It’s a super easy organic fertilizer to use on your plants, both outdoors and indoors, using nothing but discarded eggshells. Hometalk’s recipe shows how simple it is to add nutrients to your plants.
Banish bugs by using crushed eggshells instead of diatomaceous earth. Insects such as slugs and snails and other crawling bugs that slither on top of the soil can be controlled by tiny, sharp additions to the top of the soil, such as finely crushed eggshells. The shells will repel unwanted insects and they will dehydrate leaving behind a natural organic insecticide (no chemicals or sprays).
Eggshells that are at least halfway still intact can be used as tiny seedling starters. Fill the half of an eggshell with soil, add a seed and mist with water. It’s best to keep these eggshell seedling starters in an egg carton until the seedling is ready to transplant.
Half-broken eggshells aren’t just ideal for seedling starters, though. They also make excellent biodegradable containers for succulents, as well as unique containers for hand-poured candles, as Brightnest shows.
Got chickens at home? The Prairie Homestead shows how feeding eggshells to chickens will increase their calcium intake.
If you don’t want to use those broken eggshells in the garden, turn pieces of eggshell into unique craft ideas. The crushed shells can be used for mosaic crafts. The eggshells can also be crushed and used to make sidewalk chalk.
Feature image courtesy of Mark H. Anbinder