There’s more than one way to cook an egg, and you might be surprised to learn there’s more than one way to use egg cartons in your garden. That’s why gardeners are being urged to stop putting their egg cartons in the trash and save them to help their garden grow.
I’m all for recycling waste where I can, and I already hold on to my toilet paper tubes and tin cans to reuse in my yard. Apart from being environmentally friendly, saving items from the trash can help you cut costs too.
So, when you’re next deciding on whether to have your eggs sunny side up or over easy, remember to save the egg carton to repurpose in your yard.
Benjamin Vanheems, garden planner at GrowVeg, shares lots of ways to use egg cartons in your yard in his YouTube video. I've picked my top favorite ideas for you to try in your garden.
1. Sprout potatoes
Potatoes are grown from seed potatoes, and early varieties can be encouraged to sprout (or “chitted” as the RHS refers to it), before planting. To do this, you can place your seed potatoes into egg carton trays, with their eyes up.
“Each of these little cups is the perfect size for holding on to our seed potatoes, keeping them nice and secure as they sprout on a sunny windowsill or bench in the greenhouse,” says Vanheems.
Your potatoes should be ready for planting after 4-6 weeks.
2. Swap for seed trays
Instead of spending money on plastic seed trays, Vanheems prefers to use egg cartons. “The plug size spacing of egg cartons makes them a fantastic alternative,” he says.
But there’s one thing you’ll need to do before planting your seeds, that’s already done for you on shop-bought seed trays. “The first job before using egg trays is to spike them, to create some drainage holes,” says Vanheems.
“It means excess water can just drain out the bottom, so the egg trays don’t become really saturated, and they don’t fall apart quite as quickly.”
You then need to follow the same process as you would when sowing seeds in a traditional seed tray, placing a few seeds in each plug, covering them over with soil and giving them a water.
However, this cardboard version is more likely to dry out. “Egg cartons can dry out a bit quicker than traditional plug trays, because the cardboard can wick out the moisture,” says Vanheems.
A clever way around that is to place your egg carton inside a clear plastic bag, “This creates a snug environment and it stops the moisture being lost as quickly. It’s nice and humid and nice and warm and it’ll hasten germination.”
When it’s time to plant, tear off each individual plug and pop it in your soil. “You’ll find it a lot easier to do if you thoroughly wet the cardboard first by sitting your tray in a reservoir of water," he adds.
3. Slug deterrent
Egg cartons have an unexpected purpose in the garden and can help to stop pests nibbling your crops.
“Lay un-turned cartons, lids or bottoms work equally as well, anywhere that slugs might be a problem," advises Vanheems.
“The idea is that slugs will come under here under the cool dank conditions that are shady out of the sunshine during the day. All you need to do is come along and pick of any slugs and snails that you find."
4. Store your tomatoes
Although it’s a bit too early in the year for tomatoes, Vanheems says egg cartons make an excellent storage solution. “This is a really great easy to keep them nice and safe. It separates them all so the diseases won’t spread when they’re in store.”
What’s more, he adds, “It’s a great way to help stubbornly green tomatoes ripen. They’ll ripen beautifully like this, especially if there are some ripe tomatoes in among them.”
Once you place your tomatoes in your egg cartons, store them in a cool dry space.
5. Add to your compost
If you can’t find ways to use them in your garden, you can always compost your excess cartons or trays, just make sure they are cardboard.
Vanheems says cardboard is perfect for balancing out more nitrogen-rich greens, “The kind of soft, almost spongier cardboard, that egg trays are made from is perfect for soaking up excess moisture in your compost heap, helping to prevent, wet, soggy and smelly compost.”
Just remember to remove any labels on the cartons before adding to your compost., and shred the trays into pieces, as it helps them to break down quicker. There are also lots of ways to use egg shells in your yard, so save them too.
