To celebrate Earth Day, I decided to do something with my kids that would benefit us in the future and be a lot of fun. We are Starting Seeds in Egg Cartons for our garden. In a few weeks, we will take the starts and plant them in our Garden. This very inexpensive and a great way to teach your kids a little bit about gardening.
To get started you will want to gather the following supplies (most should be on hand):
- Paper Egg Carton
- Potting Soil (for gardens is preferable)
- Seeds (if you are not sure, ask around or go to a local nursery and ask for help choosing)
- Toothpick and Plastic Wrap if you want to cover it
The reason we choose paper egg cartons is because they are biodegradable and you can plant them directly into the ground and they dissolve as the plant grows. Styrofoam is not biodegradable so you will have to take the seedlings out and plant them as opposed to just cutting up the paper carton and planting them.
I used an old cookie sheet to put underneath it and then put a layer of paper towels, and then covered that with a layer of plastic wrap. Before you place the egg carton on top, you will want to take a knife or scissors and make a hole in the bottom of each spot.
Once you have the pan lined and the holes in the bottom of each spot in the egg carton, lay it out flat and grab your seeds. I wanted to try something different, so I put a little bit of soil in the bottom of half of them and no soil in the other half and then I added the seeds. I wanted to see which ones grow better. {I will have to update you as this goes along}.
Once you have your seeds in, you will want to take and fill each cup fill of soil.
Once you have your dirt in, take a lightly water them {otherwise you will wash the seeds all around}. I put my pull down faucet on the spray setting and turned the water down low and it was perfect. These are super easy to make, and will save you a lot of money {don’t buy the start kits from the stores…}
Put it in a sunny spot and water everyday. If it is still a little chilly, you can take and put toothpicks on the middle (where it rises between each hole) and then put plastic wrap over the top (loosely covered). This will help heat them and they will grow better.As soon as the last chance of frost passes (for me that is around Mother’s Day), then you can take them out and cut the cartons up into sections, 1 cup each, and plant them. {NO NEED TO REMOVE THEM FROM THE CARTON IF YOU USED PAPER}. The paper is biodegradable and will disintegrate into with the earth.
If you try Starting Seeds in Egg Cartons, let us know how it turns out. I will update with how ours are doing in a couple weeks! Happy Earth Day!
Hi, thank you for sharing this with us such an easy and inexpensive way of making seedlings. I love gardening too.. So I will definitely try it with my two beautiful angels.