Growing vegetables in egg containers

How often do you buy eggs in a special paper tray at the store? We are sure that often. Do not rush to throw away the container from under the eggs! Our tips site will tell you how you can use egg containers to grow vegetables and seedlings. This option is popular among summer residents today and deserves attention..

So, spring is approaching, and with it the “hot” season in the beds. It’s time to get ready for planting vegetables, growing seedlings. The portal wrote in detail how to select seeds in packages, as well as how to collect and save them yourself. It’s time to get stocks of seed and plant them. And as a container this time we will use paper trays for eggs.

What are the advantages of this method of growing vegetables:

• You get the container for free, along with the purchased eggs.
• The container is very light, these are not wooden boxes for you to pull.
• Each seed can be planted in its own cell, you do not have to break through the seedlings, the plants will not interfere with each other.
• No need to replant plants! When the time comes and it gets warmer outside, you simply bury the cardboard tray in the ground, where it will happily dissolve and rot. Imagine how much time you will save.

Of course, you can also use plastic egg containers. But in this case, you will have to transplant the plants later, because plastic does not dissolve in the ground. True, plastic cells are good for growing green onions on a windowsill. You will not transplant it anywhere, using it right in your kitchen.

The seed planting process is simple:

1. In the cells of your tray, cut off the tapered part to get the holes. They are needed to drain excess water and ventilation. And the roots of plants will have room to grow. Well, you say, we made holes, now we also need a stand for the tray! It’s simple – take two trays stacked on top of each other. Do not make holes in the cells in the lower container.
2. You have already got the seeds and prepared them in advance. We touched on this issue in an article on growing seedlings.
3. We fill the prepared soil into the cells. Many summer residents leave two or three buckets of local soil even before the beginning of winter, for example, in a basement or a shed. We advise you to use turf soil, add a little wood ash to it – a half-liter jar per bucket, a teaspoon of potassium sulfate and superphosphate each. All this is thoroughly mixed, loosened. Have not prepared the ground since autumn? It doesn’t matter, you can always buy a special substrate in a store where everything for a garden, a summer residence, a vegetable garden is sold.
4. Make holes in the ground for seeds carefully with a toothpick. As we remember, the best option is one seed in each cell. If you are afraid of low germination, then you can have two or three seeds, but if they sprout together, you will have to break through.

Important! If the planting takes place immediately on an open bed, the wind can blow off the cardboard trays, even with soil. Secure them with metal staples or wooden pegs.

Some site owners advise pouring boiling water over a cardboard tray before use to kill all harmful bacteria and soften the packaging a little. But you can’t overdo it, the paper will swell quickly, the tray will be damaged.

By the way, some summer residents use egg containers as a stencil when planting seeds in a greenhouse or on an open garden. Simply press the tray into the prepared, loosened soil. There will be ready-made seed holes in strict order! Really comfortable.

Also, cardboard trays are sometimes used as a path between the rows. They will last the season. Or for filling warm rows as the lowest layer.

Most often, radishes, carrots, onions, greens, and beets are grown in egg cassettes. However, it is quite possible to grow a pumpkin; summer residents have such an experience. As well as seedlings of cucumbers and other crops.

Of course, seedlings in egg trays also need to be looked after – watered on time, monitor the condition of the plants. In the beds, such a disposable container will protect young plants from weeds, and they will have to be watered less often, because the cardboard will not allow moisture from below to evaporate quickly.