5/30/2020

I wanted to prove to myself first that I could actually nurture something before I invested on more gardening materials. We had a few pots which we brought along when we moved to our new apartment. Half a bag of soil and some seeds that's been around for four years now. I knew the soil lacked nutrients since we haven't been able to grow anything on it for two years now.

But I wanted to prove to myself I could grow something. I planted some tomatoes and bell peppers (both kitchen scraps). A few days after this I wanted to plant mustasa (mustard greens), but I did not have any pots left. I did some research and found some people use eggshells to grow seeds. I thought I'd try it.

I bake so I always have egg shells I could use. On May 15 I baked some bread for the first time and decided to plant on the egg shells. I put some soil in the egg shell and planted some mustasa. Two days later I baked again and planted some supposed* mustasa seeds. I watered them diligently and just let it run it's course.



On May 22, 7 days after I planted the first set of mustard seeds something finally sprouted! It was tiny, but I was happy to see some growth.



The next day, a big bulb suddenly showed up from the supposed other set of mustasa seeds.


May 24th proved to be a really exciting day when the sprouts just suddenly grew taller!


My friends though suggested that I move the taller sprouts to a pot since they are growing fast. So a week after I planted them I moved them, eggshell and all, to a coco pot. I will eventually move them to a proper pot once my order arrives.

I was a bit worried when I planted the sprouts on a pot because they didn't look happy. By afternoon though they showed signs they were getting comfortable.

Nature is amazing! Not all the seeds I planted sprouted, but I'm happy to share that half of the seeds I planted on the egg shells sprouted. In the one week since I planted the mustasa seeds I watered them once with rice wash. Oh btw, since the egg tray I used is biodegradable I placed this "experiment" on the windowsill in my kitchen. It doesn't get direct sunlight. I put it there to make it easy for me to monitor everyday and is more protected from the elements (it rains every so often where we live).

I've since moved the two sprouts to the balcony. Still keep them under a chair for added shade. Let's see how things go in the coming weeks.

Would you try this too?

*Supposed - they have grown a bit more, but some friends told me they're probably not mustasa. Identity crisis ongoing because I'm not sure if I really planted mustasa or cucumber on those two eggshells. 

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