I’ve got spring on the brain so I thought I might share some of the stuff I am doing to get ready for planting season.

There are actually many things around the house that can be used to get seedling started and it makes use of garbage you have around the house, effectively recycling things to give them another use.

First off… to start seedling you need some little pots. There is no need to buy them.. you may already have them. You can make little planters from eggshells and toilet paper tubes.

If you are going to use egg shells for planter or for the plants, start by washing them out and then bake in a low heated oven for an hour to kill the salmonella germs. Be sure and cool them off before you touch them they will be hot. Fill each shell with potting soil and place a seed in each, for drainage you can try and drill a hole in the bottom, but this is hard to do as the shell cracks easily. To plant the shells just crunch them gently and then plant, crunching the shell makes cracks for the roots to get through to grow and the egg shell will decompose naturally. Crushed egg shells add valuable nutrients to the soil. Calcium is one which is essential for plant growth. You can also fight off pests with egg shells by using cracked egg shells, work pits into the soil to repel cutworms from eating the roots of plants, and cats from digging up you plants. Sprinkle them around plants to discourage slugs also from eating the plants, or place them on top of freshly planted seeds to keep the birds from eating the seeds.

To make planters from toilet paper rolls or paper towels;

• Cut each roll in half and press flat.
• Make four, half inch to three quarter slices on one of the rolls to create four equal sized flaps.
• Open up the roll and fold little flaps like a box bottom.
• Fill with soil and plant seeds!

You can grow these indoors next to windows (for light) or under grow lights and then when it comes time to plant them in the garden just unwrap the bottom and stick it in the ground. The paperboard of the tubes will disintegrate over time.

Coffee grounds can also be used in the garden, they provide nitrogen to the garden and both the egg shells and coffee grounds will help to keep the garden soil and plants health. I also have to add that I use the coffee filter; after I dump out the grounds I rinse the filter off, let it dry and use it in the bottom of my planter. It helps to hold the soil in the pot and decomposes quite nicely also.

These are all simple ideas and anyone can do it just look at the item before you throw it out and see if you can use it.