As a coffee drinker, I am delighted to find that the used coffee ground from my daily brew can be used to benefit my plants.
From online research, I found out that coffee grounds contain several substances that promote healthy plant growth. They contain nitrogen, tannic acids and other nutrients. Acid-loving plants especially respond to coffee grounds and coffee.
Why should you put used coffee grounds in your garden?
The high content of nitrogen in coffee grounds is a very good mulch for fast-growing vegetables. Nitrogen encourages foliage & general growth.
Coffee-ground mulch will help reduce the ravages of slugs and snails. Use coffee grounds to mulch plants that slugs love to feast on, such as hostas, ligularias and lilies. Coffee-ground mulch will help promote healthy growth in daffodils and other spring bulbs as well.
How do I use Coffee grounds?
Usually my morning brew is made from coffee grounds that comes in sachet form or freshly ground coffee beans. After drinking my coffee, I will leave the sachet or coffee grounds aside. When I see the sachets piled up, I will tear them up and collect the coffee grounds in a pail. Water will then be added. Let the coffee grounds soak in the water for about 10 minutes. Then water your plants with the water & the coffee grounds. This diluted coffee grounds acts as a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer.
Other ways you can use coffee grounds in your garden:
- Sprinkle used coffee grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.
- Dry the coffee grounds and work into the soil around acid loving plants.
- Some types of acid loving plants are: azaleas, blueberries, butterfly weed, camellias, cardinal flowers, cranberries, ferns, gardenias, heathers, heaths lupines, mountain laurels, oaks, pecans, rhododendrons, spruces, yews.
- Add used coffee grounds to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.
- Mix used coffee grounds into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.
2 comments:
Good recommendation JC! I love coffee and always have those used ground coffee after drinking.
Will keep them for my plants! I hope to keep those tiny snail and slugs away.
This information is very useful. A good recycling effort.
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