Using Coffee Grounds In Your Garden
Using Coffee Grounds In Your Garden
Using coffee grounds in your garden can produce some amazing effects. If you're gardening, you'll want to consider these tips; even if you aren't a coffee drinker.
Transcript for Using Coffee Grounds In Your Garden below
over the years we've added hundreds of
pounds of used coffee grounds to our
compost worm bins and directly to our
garden beds as mulch this has helped us
to enrich our soil with nutrients our
plants need without having to purchase
fertilizers or soil amendments with
TenPoint 31 pounds of nitrogen per cubic
yard coffee grounds are an excellent
source of nitrogen for the garden it's
important to note however that unlike
nitrogen fertilizers the nitrogen in
coffee ground is not immediately plant
available so sprinkling coffee grounds
around tomato plants won't give them a
quick jolt of nitrogen instead the
nitrogen is released over time as
microbes and other soil organisms break
down the grounds for those of us who
aren't looking for quick fixes but
instead rely on the soil food web to
make nutrients available to our plants
this slow release of nitrogen is not
viewed as a negative of course when we
think of fertilizers I think not only of
nitrogen but also phosphorus and
potassium coffee grounds don't
disappoint on this front either with an
NPK of approximately two point one zero
point three zero point three coffee
grounds provide a good amount of
phosphorus and potassium as well and
unlike the nitrogen the phosphorus and
potassium are plant available additional
minerals and coffee grounds include
magnesium and copper which are plant
available and calcium zinc manganese and
iron which become available as the
grounds decompose many are concerned
that using coffee grounds in the garden
will make the soil acidic the good news
is that almost all of the acid in coffee
grounds is water soluble and ends up in
the brewed coffee leaving the grounds
themselves essentially pH neutral with
the pH of six point five to six point
eight the used grounds are well within
the pH range preferred by most
vegetables use coffee grounds make a
great addition to the compost pile with
their high nitrogen
content they are considered a green
compost ingredient along with the right
amount of brown ingredients moisture and
oxygen they'll really heat up a pile and
of course the microbial activity in the
compost will break down the grounds
which will convert their nitrogen to a
plant available form we've added over
150 pounds of coffee grounds in our
compost just this year most vermicompost
enthusiasts agree that composting worms
love coffee grounds truth be told what
the worms are really after are the
bacteria that are breaking down the
coffee grounds and the grounds are
plenty small enough for the worms to
easily ingest and pursuit of their meal
an additional benefit for the worms is
that the coarse granular grounds are put
to work in the worms gizzards helping
them to break down and digest their food
I regularly add used coffee grounds to
all of my worm bins there is some debate
as to whether coffee grounds make a good
mulch by themselves they certainly do
not a thick mulch of coffee grounds
would form a crusty layer that would
repel water which isn't something you
want in your garden bed however by
lightly sprinkling and mixing coffee
grounds in with other mulch ingredients
like woodchips
leaves or grass clippings this problem
can be avoided entirely another concern
is that nitrogen in the soil will be
tied up as microbes consume nitrogen
while breaking down the coffee grounds
this may be a good reason not to mix the
fresh grounds into the soil a practice
I've abandoned however it shouldn't be a
problem as long as the grounds are added
to the mulch layer keeping the grounds
above the soil in the mulch should not
tie up nitrogen in the root zone where
the plants need it and over time as soil
organisms break down the grounds and
incorporate them into the soil there
should be a slow increase of nitrogen
into the soil some other benefits of
using coffee grounds in your garden are
the increased organic matter in the soil
provide food for earthworms
and improve soil structure given their
usefulness it's a shame that any grounds
end up in landfills so putting them to
use in your garden is a great way to
help your garden and reduce landfill
waste my wife and I aren't coffee
drinkers so we get almost all of our
used coffee grounds from Starbucks there
are a couple of stores close to our
house that will save all their grounds
for the day if we call in the morning
and pick them up in the evening of
course you may have other options where
you live other big chain coffee shops
are better yet an independently owned
coffee shop now of course I'm not saying
that everyone has to collect hundreds of
pounds of coffee grounds in order to
have a great garden I'm only suggesting
them as a possible free resource to
consider more generally I'm promoting
the idea of using free resources in your
area that are great for your garden of
might otherwise go to waste
for us wood chips and coffee grounds are
two great examples in your area might be
horse manure chicken manure
straw brewery waste or sawdust from a
sawmill and so on if you do have a
favorite free resource that you use in
your garden please let me know in a
comment below well that's all for now
thank you very much for watching and
until next time remember you can change
the world one yard at a time
