Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Ocelot Spleens Oct 2023 1:03pm, 1 Oct 2023 37,990 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens We have sparrows, blue and great tits, no sawfly problem until recently, as fledging finished ages ago....same as last year.
Columba Oct 2023 6:12pm, 1 Oct 2023 22,316 posts	0 Columba Poached egg plants self-seed very generously. Once you have a few, they will crop up year after year. As long as you don't weed them out. They are quite easy to recognise, even when they're small.
GordonG Oct 2023 10:03am, 4 Oct 2023 10,041 posts	0 GordonG a question about egg shells, if I may. what do you do with yours? i've seen a number of sites that say don't put them in your compost cos they take so long to decompose, but other sites that say do add them to the compost - or direct to your soil - for their vitamin content. i have used them to try to deter slugs but I can't say that was in any way successful. just wondering what you guys do with your egg shells. ta
jacdaw Oct 2023 10:10am, 4 Oct 2023 4,082 posts	0 jacdaw Compost them.
Velociraptor Oct 2023 10:14am, 4 Oct 2023 65,657 posts	0 Velociraptor Sometimes I crush a few up and put them in the compost heap, but mostly I bin them after discovering a couple of years ago that eggshells appear to multiply in compost.
3M Oct 2023 10:25am, 4 Oct 2023 22,250 posts	0 3M What V'rap said!
Curly45 Oct 2023 10:32am, 4 Oct 2023 4,537 posts	0 Curly45 Ours do break down so in they go - which is good as we eat 18 eggs a week for two people!
Hanneke Oct 2023 11:01am, 4 Oct 2023 112,044 posts	0 Hanneke You need to crunch them up, then they break down quickly.
GordonG Oct 2023 11:10am, 4 Oct 2023 10,043 posts	0 GordonG thanks all. I think my compromise will be to give them another go at composting, but as Hanneke suggests, crunch them up first. I've also just read that once crushed they can be added in small amounts to bird feed as birds will eat them for the calcium. there is definitely something therapeutic in putting a bunch of eggs in a bag and crushing them!!!
Hanneke Oct 2023 11:39am, 4 Oct 2023 112,049 posts	0 Hanneke Correct re calcium. You can even feed them back to your chickens, but then you need to wash them out which I find too much like hard work! A friend puts them in the oven at low heat, which makes them brittle, crushes them and uses against slugs and in the compost like that. He uses a LOT as in a wide strip, against slugs. I have had more success with coffee grounds and copper rings.