I am dying for spring. I'm ready for it. I have a hyacinth on my desk and an outfit picked out for the first real warm day. I'm ready for winter to be over so I can clean the debris out the garden and start planting. But that bastard groundhog was right and it's going to snow again this weekend. No! More!

It's too early to start seeds for outdoor planting; there's always at least one more freeze the first week of April. I'm getting so desperate for some sort of green that I decided to plant a late spring indoor garden today so I'll at least have some seedlings to look at by next week. Oh, and because we're in the season of Lent I'll do a little egg themed garden. Also, we have a lot of eggs and Clark is getting a little irritated because I keep forgetting and buying more.

Plus, eggs are excellent for planting. I always add some to the soil for extra calcium, so at planting time I'll just crush the shells enough to let the roots grow out. Each plant will automatically have its own all natural fertilizer.



These eggs are the best. They come from a local farm owned by the parents of a friend. All of the chickens are very happy (I've met them!) and eat bugs and fall asleep on the driveway. Plus, some of them lay actual blue eggs. I didn't know chickens could do that until I saw it with my own two eyes.



To get an egg shell ready for planting poke a hole in the bottom and a larger hole in the top. You can do this with a heavy duty pin, or a fork tine. Shake the egg over a bowl and save the insides for omlettes or flan or panna cotta. Clean out the insides and puncture the membrane to get it out of the way.



Take an ordinary pair of kitchen scissors and cut the top opening wider. I didn't know that it was possible to cut an eggshell with scissors before today, but I tried it on a hunch and it worked!

After that I let the shells dry a bit and then I filled each with seed starter soil.



The flags are made of masking tape and sections of wooden skewers. The skewers are $1 for 100 and handy for all kids of craft projects so I always have a pack on hand. (I use them to unclog glue tubes and for sculpting fimo) You can find them in the kitchen section of places like Target or Wal-Mart.



Please grow quickly!

Labels: gardening, projects

posted by Alison 2/27/2009 09:19:00 PM : (0) comments : splink