Propagate Your Future Vegetable Garden Directly In Your Kitchen With This Egg Carton Trick

One of the best ways to fortify your diet with fruits and veggies while simultaneously shrinking your grocery budget is to grow some of your favorite foods at home. This may sound like a daunting endeavor, but one of the best vegetable gardening tips for beginners is to start small by creating a small container garden on your patio or even a sunny windowsill. These are great places to cultivate salad greens, cherry tomatoes, herbs, and even beautify your space with a wide variety of edible flowers.

Though the most challenging aspect of any project is getting started, starting a garden at home is made slightly easier (and cheaper) by setting aside empty egg cartons to start your seedlings instead of purchasing seed-starting trays from your local garden center. Not only are they basically free, egg cartons are already divided into small, even sections perfect for holding just enough soil and water to help your seedlings thrive.

Since you'll need to poke some drainage holes into each cup to avoid drowning your little plants, you'll also want to source some old or disposable baking sheets to contain potential drainage overflow. After that, it's simply a matter of putting a little potting soil and your seeds in each cup and giving them a good drink of water before setting them in a warm, sunny area of your home. A loose layer of plastic wrap draped over each tray helps hold in additional warmth and moisture for better growth without blocking airflow.

While you may have success starting seeds in Styrofoam or plastic egg cartons, these materials pose some challenges that paper, cardboard, and pulp egg cartons don't. Styrofoam and plastic cartons, for example, are nonporous and will retain more moisture than the paper-based cartons, which puts them in danger of developing root rot or becoming moldy because excess moisture can't evaporate through the sides of the material. If your local grocery store only uses plastic-based cartons, we suggest mixing some perlite into your soil to encourage better drainage.

Another advantage of paper-based egg cartons is that they make it easier to transplant your seedlings once they've outgrown the little cups. Instead of scooping them out of a carton, you can simply cut the paper cups apart and plant the whole seedling — paper and all — into your clever elevated patio chair container garden or backyard raised bed, as these kinds of egg cartons can be composted. As the plant continues to grow, the egg carton cup will simply rot away. However, we do suggest tearing the sides a little to give the plant some breathing room and prevent it from becoming root bound.

If you've used plastic-based cartons, you'll need to gently scoop each seedling from the cup to transplant it into a larger container or the ground, as these cartons won't decompose. Using a metal serving spoon makes this a bit easier, as you can usually pop them free with just one gentle scoop.