Home & Garden Helpers: EGGSHELLS and COFFEE GROUNDS

COFFEE GROUNDS

1. Use coffee grounds when washing your hair...it adds softness and shine. Rub coffee grounds through wet hair and rinse well. Coffee grounds will also add highlights to brown or darker hair colors.
    
2. Coffee grounds are an exfoliant for skin. Pat on skin, massage over skin, rinse.
    
3. Fertilize plants...old coffee grounds are nutrient-rich for plants that thrive in an acidic soil such as hydrangeas.
    
4. Add used coffee grounds to the pots of indoor plants, or mix in soil if repotting.
    
5. Work used coffee grounds into your garden soil before seed planting. After your plants start to emerge, work in coffee grounds near the plants. Used coffee grounds are said to repel snails and slugs as well as adding nutrients to the soil.
    
6. Increase your carrot and radish harvest by mixing seeds with dry coffee grounds before planting the seeds.
    
7. Use coffee grounds to repel ants around your landscape.
    
8. Keep cats from using your garden as a kitty box by spreading used coffee grounds and orange peels throughout flower beds.
    
9. Deodorize a freezer. Place a bowl with used coffee grounds in the freezer to remove unwanted odors. You can also add a teaspoon of vanilla to coffee grounds for extra scent.
    
10. Rub coffee grounds on hands to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up pungent foods such as garlic and onions.
     
11. Make a used coffee grounds sachet. Fill old nylons or cheescloth with dry used coffee grounds. Hang in closets to absorb stale odors.
     
12. Remove furniture scratches with wet coffee grounds. Buff well and let dry thoroughly.
     
13. Dye fabric, paper or Easter eggs. Simply add used coffee grounds in a nylon stocking to warm water and let steep to create a dye.  

EGGSHELLS

1. Add crushed eggshells to the bottom of planting holes, especially for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. These crops are susceptible to blossom end rot, which is caused by calcium deficiency. While this deficiency is most often caused by improper watering, there’s no harm in making sure your plants have a steady source of calcium. As the eggshells break down, they’ll nourish the soil, and your plants.
2. Use crushed eggshells to deter slugs, snails, and cutworms. All three of these pests have soft undersides, and dislike slithering across anything sharp. Crushed eggshells, applied to the soil’s surface, may help deter these pests.
3. Add them to the compost pile, where they’ll add calcium to your finished compost.
4. If you are feeding birds in your yard, crush up the eggshells and add them to a dish near the feeder. Female birds, particularly those who are getting ready to lay eggs or recently finished laying, require extra calcium and will definitely appreciate it!

No matter how you want to use them, be sure to rinse the
shells out well before using them in the garden.