Eggshells
Eggshells can be valuable to gardeners who need to manage soil calcium levels and are also beneficial additions to compost, namely worm bins. Eggshells ground to a fine powder yield the quickest results, while large chunks of eggshells will take at least a year to break down making their stored calcium unavailable to plants or worms.
Ground eggshells are best used in a worm bin. The extra grit in the worm bin assists the worms in digesting the food scraps through the grinding action that takes place in their crop (similar to a chicken). You can also spread ground eggshells in compost piles, in tomato planting holes, or around the garden and landscape if a soil test reveals a deficiency in calcium.
Breaking down eggshells the right way
- Have a baking tray lined with used or reusable baking paper ready in the oven. Whenever you use eggs, put the shells in there.
- When you preheat your oven, the eggshells will dry and go brittle, making them very easy to crush.
- Put them in a jar until you have a few more.
- You can even put them in the food processor and get them chopped up finely.
There you go – it’s not that hard! Time to get set up.
