Grow Bigger Tomatoes Than Ever With A Food Scrap You'd Throw Away Anyway

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Seasoned tomato growers have lots of tricks to guarantee a bumper harvest. Many of them plant particular species next to their toms to help them grow bigger, while others reach for an everyday ingredient from their pantry to give their fruit a boost. But big, juicy tomatoes cannot thrive on baking soda alone, which is why lots of gardeners have a secret weapon among their fertilizer options: eggshells.

To millions of home cooks, they're a food scrap fit only for the trash, but to anyone with a green thumb, eggshells are calcium-filled white knights; riding into the soil, and protecting tomatoes from the likes of blossom-end rot by strengthening their cell walls. For gardeners playing the long game, eggshells can be tossed into a composter where they will break down over several months. As they decompose, the calcium in the eggshells leaches out, mingling with the other nutrients in the compost when the layers of organic matter are turned, and creating a home-made superfood for soil.

If you don't want to wait that long, there are a few ways eggshells can be used as a speedy soil fertilizer, including brewing a tea or crushing and scattering them around the base of tomato plants. By far the most efficient method is to make an eggshell powder. Crushing the shells takes their fertilizing properties to a whole new level and in a fraction of the time. The trick is to grind the shells as finely as possible to break them down and release the calcium, so it's easier for the tomato plants to absorb.

To get the most out of an eggshell fertilizer, you will need plenty of eggs, because one pulverised shell won't go very far, and an airtight container to store them is a must. We like this cute, vintage style glass jar, but any good-quality plastic box will work just fine. The shells must be thoroughly washed (they'll smell bad if every scrap of liquid egg isn't rinsed out) and dried, either in a low oven or on a kitchen counter, before being powdered. If you fancy a workout, grab a pestle and mortar to grind them up, or throw the shells in a blender for a fuss-free result.

When your eggshell powder is ready, how and when you use it is important. Working a handful or two into the soil before planting gives tomatoes an initial calcium kick, while adding more at the base of the plant when it is flowering and as it fruits will provide a welcome nutrition boost when it needs it most. As the tomato plants grow and the fruit gets bigger, this low-cost Dollar Tree trellis will help support them, and if hungry slugs and snails are threatening to chow down on your juicy tomatoes, scatter a few bigger, broken eggshells around the bottom of the plant to see them off. You may even want to try growing this rare, giant heirloom tomato for perfect salads.