Green-fingered Brits love nothing more than clever and simply gardening tips to help their their outdoor spaces thrive. Popular Youtube channel The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni boasts of an impressive 1.6 million subscribers, who all can’t get enough of his handy and effortless gardening tips. He writes: “Gardening doesn’t have to be hard, and you don’t have to be a servant to the garden – I can help you to create a gardening system that works with you and for you rather than you working for it.”
Prigioni shared his novel tip for creating the perfect home for seedlings with the use of a simple egg carton. Turns out, egg cartons work a treat when it comes to starting seeds indoors, particularly for beginners or those looking for an eco-friendly option.
Egg cartons in your garden offer a cost-effective and readily available solution when it comes to seed germination, as the individual cells in the carton allows for effortless transferring of seedlings into larger containers or in the garden.
In the video a plastic egg carton was used as it doubles up as a “mini greenhouse” for the young seedlings too.
He explained: “Just make sure before you use it you cut some holes at the bottom of each cell to allow for drainage.
“Then, fill up the cells with some soil and plant your seeds – I chose to use an orange hat tomato and some egg plants”.
The Youtuber advised not to use large seedlings such as squash as the “cells are too shallow”.
Instead, sticking to smaller seedlings is a better bet for your egg carton mini greenhouse like “tomatoes, lettuce or eggplants”.
The Youtuber added: “Since the cells aren’t very deep, I would suggest transplanting out of the carton when the plants get leaves”.
People were quick to comment on this handy egg carton tip with a few offering their unusual suggestions for items that can be used as a greenhouse for seedlings too.
One commented: “I save all my Mushroom containers as they work as really good planting containers.
“A double mushroom container is cool just like a double red cup.”
Another added: “I cut tall yogurt containers into 1 inch strips and use them as markers for the plants and I write the name of the seedling on the yogurt container strip.”
With a third adding: “Any plastic container from the grocery store is great for repurpose for seed starts. I use mushroom and spinach containers to start onions seeds and it works like a charm.”
