Don't throw away that empty egg carton! This gardening hack uses an egg carton to grow seedlings—a beginner friendly way to start growing plants!
How to Grow Seedlings in an Empty Egg Carton
Updated Feb. 15, 2024
We’ve experimented with new recipes, craft projects and plenty of cooking and cleaning hacks. This time, we’re trying our hand at indoor gardening! With plenty of home gardening hacks, this one for how to grow seedlings in an empty egg carton is the perfect beginner’s guide to starting your own little garden.
Pursuing an indoor garden is an admirable thing. Even if you’ve struggled with keeping plants alive in the past, we’re here to help get you back into the swing of things. And all you need to start is an empty egg carton!
How to Set up Your Egg Carton
First, take your pulp paper egg carton and poke some small holes into the bottoms and sides for airflow and drainage. To properly grow seedlings in an empty egg carton, you’ll want the correct potting mix made for seeds. It should be lighter than regular potting soil—those little plant stems have to push their way through! Whichever mix you decide to go with, make sure to moisten the soil with warm water. After that, place the soil into each pocket of the egg carton.
Planting Your Seedlings
Whether planting herbs, vegetables or a different kind of seed, you’ll want to plant based on the packet’s instructions. You’ll also need to place plastic wrap loosely over the carton after planting—this will help retain moisture in the soil.
Keep the seeds warm to help spur germination. Try to keep the carton in a warm place out of direct sunlight or even on a heating pad. Then, once germination has begun, remove the plastic wrap.
Transplanting Them to a Larger Container
Your plants are now ready to receive all the bright lights (or even grow lights)! When you start seeing additional leaves on your plants’ stems, it’s about time to transfer your plants to a bigger pot.
Fill your containers with potting mix and soil, and carefully transfer your new plants. Remember to water well! Once again, avoid direct sunlight while your plants get to know their new environment. After a while, you’ll begin to see all that wonderful, natural growth!
Congratulations—you’ve just successfully started a garden with an empty egg carton.
These Secret Ingredients Can Help Your Garden Grow
Make Flowers Bloom with Baking Soda
If there were an award for most versatile of pantry ingredients, baking soda would certainly be a nominee. In addition to these clever ways to clean with baking soda, you can sprinkle it on the surface of your soil to make your geraniums, coneflowers, daylilies and clematis bloom like crazy. That's because baking soda is alkaline, and those flowers thrive on alkaline soil.
Repel Ants with Cream of Tartar
No one wants to share their outdoor dining table with ants, but if you're not inclined to use chemicals to keep them away, you can use cream of tartar instead. Simply sprinkle a bit of cream of tartar on the perimeter of the table or wherever you want to "dust their trail," recommends the Farmer's Almanac. In case you're wondering, here's what cream of tartar actually is and how you can use it in the kitchen.
Repel Squirrels with Cayenne
Squirrels are adorable until they start digging up your daffodil and tulip bulbs. To deter them, sprinkle cayenne pepper around your bulb gardens. Reapply when you see the squirrels returned. Here's your guide to all the different peppers you might have in your kitchen.
Erase Algae with White Vinegar
Forget renting a power washer! All you need to get rid of that unwanted icky green stuff on your patio is to spray it with full-strength distilled white vinegar. Vinegar, like baking soda, is a pantry superstar—here are other ways to use it at home.
Use Baking Soda for Sweeter Tomatoes
A more alkaline soil makes tomatoes sweeter. To grow sweeter tomatoes, simply sprinkle baking soda on the surface of your soil in your tomato garden. After you harvest your sweet tomatoes, let them shine in these recipes.
Clean Garden Tools with Olive Oil
Rub olive oil onto the cutting and digging surfaces of your garden tools, as well as on your lawn mower blades. This will repel dirt and rust and make it easier to clean them next time. For cooking, learn how to find the best olive oil.
Fight Fungus with Baking Soda
While baking soda doesn't kill fungus, you can use it to prevent fungus because its alkalinity creates an environment hostile to fungal growth. Simply stir a teaspoon of baking soda into a liter of water and spray the leaves of your fungus-prone plants (these include tomatoes and lilacs). Here's why you should never confuse baking soda with baking powder.
Turn Pink Hydrangeas Blue with Vinegar
Unlike baking soda, distilled white vinegar is acidic, and acidic soil is the secret to turning your pink hydrangeas blue. (Note: This doesn't work on white hydrangeas.) Vinegar also enhances the soil of acid-loving plants like azaleas, rhododendrons and gardenias. Use a cup of white distilled vinegar to a gallon of tap water. Do you know the difference between apple cider vinegar and white vinegar?
Say Goodbye to Beetles with Dish Soap
My biggest complaint with Japanese beetles is how they can quickly turn beautiful zinnia leaves into lacy remnants of their former selves. They also decimate over 300 other types of garden plants. Unfortunately, the best way to get rid of them is to hand-pick them off your plants...and drown them in a mixture of water and dishwashing soap. Sorry...not sorry....we're talking zinnias here! For your own safety, these are the safest dish soaps you can buy.
Attract Earthworms with Coffee Grounds
Adding coffee grounds to your soil benefits your soil by attracting earthworms and microorganisms (both of which make your soil healthier and more fertile). But note: fresh coffee grounds are acidic, whereas used coffee grounds are neutral. If you are enhancing the soil of an alkaline-soil loving plant (such as geraniums or sweet tomatoes), then used coffee grounds are the way to go. Find more ways to repurpose coffee grounds.
Keep Weeds Out With Cornmeal
Ditch chemical weedkillers and opt for an all-natural solution instead. Cornmeal, aka that stuff you use in cornbread, or more specifically corn gluten meal (CGM) is great for killing weeds—but only if they haven't germinated yet. It's best to clear out the grown weeds first, then sprinkle corn gluten meal to kill the seeds—otherwise, you might accidentally provide the weeds with extra nutrients.Originally Published: March 01, 2021
