Coffee and ground coffee. (photo by Bruno Neves)
Any coffee drinker will likely throw away a filter full of used grounds each day. But, to gardeners these old grounds are very useful in the vegetable plot, flower bed or landscape. Some may remember family members throwing ground coffee around roses or azaleas. Besides improving acidity for plants like these, coffee grounds are useful against pests and as soil amendments. If you don’t drink coffee or need more grounds than your family can produce, many Starbucks coffee shops will give away used coffee grounds to gardeners. Check your local franchise for details.
1. Certain shrubs and bushes love the acid in coffee grounds. Place them around acid loving plants like roses, hydrangeas, azaleas and blueberries. If you are concerned that this is too much acid, mulch with “brown” material on top such as dried grass clippings or dried fall leaves to balance the pH Don’t make the grounds more than one inch thick and don’t add more until the original coating has broken down.
2. Coffee grounds deter pests and diseases. If you are having a problem with lettuces, beans, daffodils, or other plants that slugs eat, pour a ring around the base of the plant to keep slugs from crossing. Some experts believe the slugs can’t survive the caffeine they take up as they crawl over it. Coffee grounds are also said to help prevent late blight in tomatoes and to to deter ants. Some mammals like cats, deer and rabbits don’t like the smell of coffee and may stay away. Yet, it will attract worms and many people use it in worm bins.
3. Use coffee grounds when repotting plants. Add the grounds to the potting soil and mix them in. Or, place a used filter full in the bottom of the pot before you put your soil in. The nitrogen in the coffee grounds will help promote leaf growth.
4. Add coffee grounds to your compost pile. They are considered green material and when mixed with brown materials like straw or leaves, the compost will break down faster. Filters also can be composted, and they are considered brown. Add the whole thing to your pile. Coffee grounds also do well in worm bins. Don’t make the grounds more than 25% of the pile or there will be an imbalance of materials.
To see how some of these tips work in real life, see the blog Green Talk for an entry about gardening with Starbuck’s free coffee grounds.
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What is nitrogen and why does our garden need it?
Rethinking your garden habits
How fall soil preparation will help your soil in the spring
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Comments
Great piece! I'm going to write an article about Starbucks Grounds for Your Garden program and will definitely link to your article.
Thanks for the shout out for my article. I am still adding coffee to my roses and compost. I transplanted my roses this year and thought I lost them all. I decided to put coffee around them and sure enough, the roses (but one) are coming back. Was it the coffee. Who knows. I am just glad they are growing back!!!
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