Don't Toss Your Egg Cartons: Reuse Them To Solve An Annoying Garden Problem

Hatching new ideas to make gardening easier can save you a lot of time. And a simple egg carton could help with that. Sure, you're familiar with using egg cartons as a tidy seed-starting station. And this idea does help with the planting process, but you're not putting the seeds in the carton. You're using the carton to plant the seeds. Confused? It's an idea presented on the 5-Minute Crafts TEENS YouTube channel — they glue an old egg carton to a piece of wood with a handle attached to it, and then use it to press into the soil and make perfectly spaced holes for planting seeds.

Egg cartons work well for this method because of their shape and spacing. You get consistent hole diameters, depths, and spacing simply by pressing the bottom of the egg carton into the soil. Then you can place the seeds directly in the center of each depression, and cover them up with soil. It's also much faster than digging individual holes — you can create up to 12 holes at a time if you use a full egg carton. That said, you do need to check the spacing requirements when germinating and planting vegetable seeds in particular. Many veggies need several inches between the seeds, so this tool might not work for all plants.

The wood and handle might seem like an overkill, especially since the egg carton likely won't last more than a season. You could simply press the egg carton in with your hand to avoid that extra step, but adding the wood piece applies even pressure to ensure all of the cups push down to the same depth. And you can always swap out the egg carton once it gets soft and squishy.

To get started with this hack, cut a piece of scrap wood the same size as the egg carton. Cut the top off the egg carton — you can save it for other ways to use empty egg cartons. Use hot glue to attach the carton to the board. If you don't want to use the full egg carton, cut it down to size. You can do a single row, for example. To make the planting tool easier to use, screw a drawer pull or handle on the opposite side of the board.

You might also need to modify the configuration based on the necessary spacing for the seeds you're planting. The cups are fairly close together, which works for veggies like carrots, greens, and radishes, that only need 1 to 2 inches between them. But many veggies need several inches between them — beans, beets, peas, and onions need around 4 inches between the seeds, for example. And some seeds need 8 to 12 inches or more. For extra-wide spacing, try cutting individual cups out and gluing them to a yard stick or a long, thin piece of scrap wood with the exact spacing you need.

The planting depth can also be tricky when using the egg carton method. Small seeds usually only need to be planted ⅛ to ¼ inch deep. Slightly larger seeds can go about ½ inch deep, and even the largest seeds only need to go about 1 inch deep. If you press the carton all the way down, you'll make holes that are too deep for your seeds. So remember to adjust how far you press the carton based on the seeds you're planting.