Gardening Questions and Answers

A new gardening question of the day appears every day of the year on the front page of Almanac.com. Below is the answer to one of the questions from our Gardening Questions and Answers Archive where you can find over 400 more gardening questions (with answers!).

Have you heard of planting seeds in eggshells to start transplants?

Yes, it's an old-time trick. In the days before nice peat pots provided by your local nursery, an eggshell worked nicely. Here's advice from 1880: "Take eggshells cut in half, make two or three small holes in the bottom of each, fill with sifted soil, , sink in a box of sand, sow seeds and cover with glass, of course keeping them in the right light. Water only the sand, for they will absorb enough through the holes. In transplanting, break off the shells, leaving the lump of earth intact without the roots being jarred or disturbed." Try this with some cabbage seeds toward the end of February and you may have good starts for transplanting as soon as you can work the earth!