Gardening Myths #1 – Can you Put Eggshells Directly in Your Plants?

We’re leading in with eggshells. Can you put eggshells with your plants to add more calcium?

Eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, that kind of stuff are really good for your soil, but it’s better to have them break down first and become a compost. With eggshells, eggshells you could put down in there, and they will add a little bit of calcium as they break down. But coffee grounds, that kind of thing, if you want to put it in the garden, you want to make sure it’s away from plants.

You don’t want to put it up against anything it could burn. So, it’s better for the soil, making more amendments to your soil and helping it to break down better. It is a good thing for your garden, but it’s much better to have it break down into a compost.

While we’re talking on that subject, can you put too much compost in gardens or things like that?

It does depend. Some of the bagged compost, like Sweet Peat, you can use directly. You can plant right in that. A home compost and manure, you want to mix it in because it can burn. You can always have it tested. Like, if you do compost, you can have it tested to kind of see how acidic it is and that kind of thing. But it is best to kind of mix it into your soil because it is going to enrich that soil as well. And over time, it’s going to just create better soil.

And certain plants are going to prefer more soil amendments than others, like rhododendrons and azaleas. They’re big, leafy evergreens, and they really like at least a 50-50 mixture, usually. Some of the other plants can be in the 25 to 30 percent range, and that’s more than enough for the deciduous material.

We do not sell compost by the yard, but we have bags of different amendments. And I wish we did, because we do get a lot of people that ask that. I know that there are places. I think Earth and Wood does Sweet Peat by bulk. And then there’s a place in Dundee, Bull Country Compost. That’s one of my favorites.

Usually when I’m planting, since I’m already digging that hole, I’m going to work some compost or manure in there. But at the beginning, when I’m just getting the garden ready, I just throw it around and then I just kind of work it in. I’m a big soil advocate.

It’s no different than cooking. If you start with bad ingredients, you’re going to end up with a less savory dish. I mean, you want to make sure that the ingredients that are in there, the nutrients that are in the soil, all affect how that plant’s going to grow. And that’s what I always tell people, you’re digging that hole anyway, you might as well, go a little bit extra and put some good stuff in there and it’ll thank you for it.

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