Gardening expert Benjamin Vanheems has shared three clever ways to repurpose egg cartons in the garden, including chitting potatoes and growing carrots
An expert is urging people to use egg trays around the garden(Image: Getty)
“Smart” gardeners are being told to hang onto their egg cartons as they boast “so many clever uses”. Gardening guru Benjamin Vanheems, who goes by GrowVeg, points out that households get through ‘loads’ of egg cartons each year, yet most end up in the recycling.
But they can prove remarkably handy around the garden, Benjamin revealed in a YouTube clip. He stated: “Most of us get through loads of them in a year, but here’s the crazy thing, they have so many clever uses in the garden and once you know what they can do, you’ll never throw them away again.”
Benjamin notes the most popular way to utilise an egg carton in the garden is for sprouting or chitting your potatoes before planting. According to the RHS, potatoes should be sown any time from March through to May.
It suggests now is an ideal moment to begin chitting your potatoes. This technique enables them to sprout prior to going into the soil, resulting in an earlier harvest, reports the Express.
Benjamin said: “Each of these little cups is the perfect size for holding onto our seed potatoes like that, keeping them nice and secure as they sprout on a sunny window sill or a bench on the green house.”
People are being urged to use egg trays in their garden(Image: Getty)
Additionally, Benjamin notes egg trays serve as a decent substitute for plug trays, thanks to the “plug-sized spacing”. Before deploying the cartons as a plug tray, Benjamin advises gardeners should pierce a hole in them to prevent them “falling apart”.
Another method Benjamin favours for using egg trays is cultivating carrots. He explains you can either remove the base of each compartment by soaking it in water and then pinching the bottom away, which gives the roots room to develop.
This can then be planted directly into the ground with the cardboard functioning as a mulch. The alternative is positioning the egg tray on top of the soil, creating a hole in the base and sowing the seeds into it before covering with potting mix.
Chitting potatoes can be put in the trays(Image: Getty)
The RHS advises that now is an ideal time to prepare your ground and sow your early outdoor carrot varieties. Any seeds planted at this time should be ready for harvesting anywhere between May and November.
He then suggests filling the tray with an all-purpose soil before planting seeds as you normally would. Gardeners should then spray them with water, as the egg trays can “dry out” faster than a conventional plug tray.
Benjamin says egg cartons are an alternate to trays(Image: Getty)
Benjamin does, however, reveal there’s a technique to prevent them drying out quite so rapidly. He said: “Chuck in a label and then pop your sown carton into a bread bag. It’s ideal because it neatly fits around it, or you could put it in a seed tray with a dome lid or a propagator over the top.
“What this does is create a kind of snug environment and also stops the moisture being lost so quickly, so it’s nice and humid, nice and warm, and will hasten germination.”
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