5 Uses For Old Coffee Grounds In The Garden
What to do with Coffee grounds? Put coffee grounds in the garden? Does adding used grounds from your morning coffee to your garden soil help or hurt?
Have you noticed down at your favorite coffee house, bags of used coffee (Starbucks has them)? Have you tried putting coffee grounds in compost? How about using coffee grounds as fertilizer… is it a good idea?
Don’t even think of throwing away those used grounds of java! They are just as valuable as the coffee you made from them. Below are 5 ways on how to use coffee grounds in the garden.
It’s a bit ironic but the dark brown remains of your morning coffee will turn your hydrangea flowers bright blue!
Evergreen trees are also fond of acidic soils, as are dogwood trees, magnolia trees, willow oaks, and beech trees.
Garden vegetables that prefer slightly acidic soil include peppers (all types), radishes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, tomato plants, parsley, rhubarb, and potatoes (even though the soils in Idaho are predominantly alkaline).
When you mulch with coffee, spread a layer about one-half inch thick or your grounds will mold too readily and they could make your soil too acidic.
An easy solution is to use natural coffee grounds to stain your garden benches. Use coffee grounds to give a beautiful sepia color that will not contaminate your garden.
Roses are one of the plants that like coffee grounds! Backyard flower growers like to use coffee grounds for roses as the used grounds still contain a high concentration of these nutrients.
It is very easy to use coffee grounds as organic fertilizer by making effective liquid food. Put about one-half pound of used coffee grinds in a five-gallon bucket, fill with water, and stir.
Let this sit a few days to allow the nutrients from the coffee to seep into the water. The resulting brew is your liquid fertilizer. This is an excellent alternative to store-bought chemical fertilizers that contain harmful chemicals like petrochemicals, arsenic, and cadmium.
Of course, unlike the store-bought liquid fertilizers, your homemade liquid fertilizer is free!
Apart from using coffee grounds for soil amendment, you can also use coffee grounds for plant protection like a moat protects a castle.
Place a protective ring of used coffee grounds around these vulnerable plants.
Slugs and snails, worms, and other common garden pests dislike the smell, acidity, or texture of coffee grounds and are repelled by them. Best of all, using this simple all-natural solution can help you avoid using any toxic pesticides around your food!
Why are coffee grounds good for plants? Coffee is a good source of nitrogen (contains 1.5% by weight) and you can include it to the plant’s nutrition thru compost coffee grounds.
Adding used coffee grounds to compost (coffee filters too) puts nitrogen fertilizer into your compost soil.
However, it is also important to keep in mind the acidity of coffee grounds. Balance this out with yard scraps, kitchen scraps, and a good source of calcium carbonates like wood ashes or lime to balance out the pH and also add more phosphorous.
Keep in mind that the fungus growing on coffee tends to use up a lot of nitrogen. Again, it’s a good idea to have a good mixture of organic matter and other materials in your compost pile or compost heap.
Have you noticed down at your favorite coffee house, bags of used coffee (Starbucks has them)? Have you tried putting coffee grounds in compost? How about using coffee grounds as fertilizer… is it a good idea?
Don’t even think of throwing away those used grounds of java! They are just as valuable as the coffee you made from them. Below are 5 ways on how to use coffee grounds in the garden.
1. Coffee Grounds As Mulch
Coffee grounds make an excellent ground mulch, especially for acid-loving plants.What plants like coffee grounds? Plants like:
- Begonias
- Blueberry bushes
- Rhododendrons
- Holly bushes
- Huckleberry
- Azaleas
- Fragrant gardenia trees
- Juneberry
- Trillium grandiflorum
- Flowering Camellias
It’s a bit ironic but the dark brown remains of your morning coffee will turn your hydrangea flowers bright blue!
Evergreen trees are also fond of acidic soils, as are dogwood trees, magnolia trees, willow oaks, and beech trees.
Garden vegetables that prefer slightly acidic soil include peppers (all types), radishes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, tomato plants, parsley, rhubarb, and potatoes (even though the soils in Idaho are predominantly alkaline).
When you mulch with coffee, spread a layer about one-half inch thick or your grounds will mold too readily and they could make your soil too acidic.
2. Using Coffee Grounds In The Garden To Stain Your Garden Benches
After creating a beautiful edible organic garden, the last thing you need is a varnished or painted garden bench, leaching toxic chemicals into your soil every time it rains or you water your garden!An easy solution is to use natural coffee grounds to stain your garden benches. Use coffee grounds to give a beautiful sepia color that will not contaminate your garden.
3. Coffee Grounds For Fertilizer – Free, Effective, and Easy To Make Liquid Fertilizer
Coffee beans are full of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and magnesium.Roses are one of the plants that like coffee grounds! Backyard flower growers like to use coffee grounds for roses as the used grounds still contain a high concentration of these nutrients.
It is very easy to use coffee grounds as organic fertilizer by making effective liquid food. Put about one-half pound of used coffee grinds in a five-gallon bucket, fill with water, and stir.
Let this sit a few days to allow the nutrients from the coffee to seep into the water. The resulting brew is your liquid fertilizer. This is an excellent alternative to store-bought chemical fertilizers that contain harmful chemicals like petrochemicals, arsenic, and cadmium.
Of course, unlike the store-bought liquid fertilizers, your homemade liquid fertilizer is free!
4. Used Coffee Grounds For Plants Offers A Ring Of Protection
Slugs and snails attacking your strawberries? Snails munching on your lettuce in the vegetable garden? Are ants eating your tomatoes?Apart from using coffee grounds for soil amendment, you can also use coffee grounds for plant protection like a moat protects a castle.
Place a protective ring of used coffee grounds around these vulnerable plants.
Slugs and snails, worms, and other common garden pests dislike the smell, acidity, or texture of coffee grounds and are repelled by them. Best of all, using this simple all-natural solution can help you avoid using any toxic pesticides around your food!
5. Add Used Coffee Grounds For Plants And Your Compost Pile
Adding and mixing in old coffee grounds in the soil is a good way to build the soil structure. The perfect place to start is to add coffee grounds and grass clippings to the compost pile.Why are coffee grounds good for plants? Coffee is a good source of nitrogen (contains 1.5% by weight) and you can include it to the plant’s nutrition thru compost coffee grounds.
Adding used coffee grounds to compost (coffee filters too) puts nitrogen fertilizer into your compost soil.
However, it is also important to keep in mind the acidity of coffee grounds. Balance this out with yard scraps, kitchen scraps, and a good source of calcium carbonates like wood ashes or lime to balance out the pH and also add more phosphorous.
Keep in mind that the fungus growing on coffee tends to use up a lot of nitrogen. Again, it’s a good idea to have a good mixture of organic matter and other materials in your compost pile or compost heap.
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