This egg carton greenhouse project is the perfect way to welcome spring. Karen Vachon of Insphere Insurance Solutions has put together a little egg carton greenhouse video to show people how it’s done. Now’s the time to gather some seeds, a little potting soil, and a plastic egg carton so you can make your own egg carton greenhosue and get seedlings ready to go into bigger pots before they’re transplanted outside.
What seeds work best in an egg carton greenhouse? I’d go for the ones that need warmth to start but can be out in the garden in May. Many flower seedlings are perfect for starting in an egg carton greenhouse (or transplanting into intermediary pots before they go in the ground.) Sunflowers, pansies and violas, sweet william and other carnations, asters and other annuals work well. I’d avoid long tap-rootedplants like lupines and poppies. They don’t transplate very well. Peppers and tomatos would be good choices for vegetables, as well as squash, pumpkins and cucumbers if you’re willing to do some intermediate pots.
Good luck with your egg carton greenhouse. If you’re using leftover dirt from another project, spread it on a baking sheet and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes at 300 degrees to kill off any spores. Go to the local recycling center to see if you can snag the clear plastic egg cartons Karen uses in her video. Otherwise, you should put the word out among your friends and start eating eggs from the 18 egg size cartons.
When the time comes to put your seedlings into intermediary pots, or out into the garden, very tenderly use a plastic spoon or a popsicle stick to wiggle them out of the carton. You’ll see the tiny rootlets throught the plastic of your egg carton greenhouse; you don’t want to damage the roots.