Add calcium to your soil using egg shells

In 2009, Jenn really got into plants. It seemed like every time I came home from work there was a new plant in the house or out in front of it. Back then I was working so many hours that I was too tired to care or even get interested.  However, one thing I did notice is how she had some of her plants in pots with no soil. One day I stopped and looked and noticed the only thing in the pot was some charcoal and a few egg shells. I remember wondering how these plants were living in this stuff with no soil. As I said, at the time I was too tired to really care and so, I never bothered to ask her about it.

Well, looking back on that, I now understand why. The charcoal was actually biochar and the egg shells were for calcium. Basically, it was a slow release system that allowed the plants to pull nutrients slowly over time. Obviously, this is knowledge I learned relatively recently.

Something else I learned is if you pulverize the egg shells you can sprinkle them into the garden for a slightly faster release. You can also add them to your worm bin. Supposedly, this serves two purposes.

1. It helps the worms with digestion. Worms, like chickens, have gizzards. So, the coarse material really helps their digestive system.
2. It adds calcium to the worm castings. This one I am not too sure about, though. It's just what I heard, but it seems logical to me.

Preparing the egg shells

The first thing you want to do is open the egg. You can either hard boil them and peel them or just crack the egg and wash the shell out.In my opinion cracking them open raw and rinsing them out is the easiest way. Trust me. I learned that from experience. Trying to peel that inner membrane off the shell is not easy. You certainly do not want to leave the membrane on. You want just the shells. Nothing else.

Once you've got the shells separated from the egg toss them in the microwave for a couple of minutes to kill the bacteria and micro organisms inside the egg. I usually do 2-3 minutes, but your microwave will probably differ from mine based on power settings.  The way you can tell they are done is when you start hearing popping sounds coming from the microwave. Just open the door and don't stand too close. The fumes that will escape will make your eyes tear and I mean that literally.

Another option is to boil the shells, but I found the microwave to be easier and faster.

 How to pulverize the egg shells

Most YouTube gardeners will recommend using a coffee grinder to get the egg shells down to a fine powder. The problem is I do not drink coffee and even if I did I do not have the money to buy a coffee grinder.

So, I got creative. I put the shells into a plastic bag and took them outside to the curb.  I used a hammer to smash them into some pretty small pieces. Obviously, I was not able to get a fine powder, but I got pretty darn close. The nice thing was, the bag ripped just a tad in a few places which made sprinkling the shells just that much easier.

Helpful Tip:
This method works equally well on biochar if you want it in a fine powder form.