5 Ways to Reuse Coffee Grounds in the Garden
Mulch Coffee grounds can be used as a mulch around blueberries, fruit trees, currants and cane fruit, all with good result. When you mulch with coffee grounds, don’t pile it on. That’s a sure-fire way to get moldy mulch. A good half-inch thick layer atop your normal organic mulch in any one spot will do nicely. It will break down relatively quickly as worms and soil microbes go to work. Coffee works like any other organic mulch.
Fertilizer Near Plant Roots (Side-Dressing) A coffee bean is a processed seed. As you’d expect, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, at about 10% “the carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds can be as low as 11:1, an ideal ratio for plant and soil nutrition,” according to WSU extension. With nitrogen levels like that, pure coffee grounds make an excellent fertilizer for leafy greens and hungry fruiting veg, like tomatoes and squash, early in their growth and particularly for spinach.
Natural Slug Deterrent Do you have some veg, like Napa Cabbage, that seems like a total slug magnet? Try banding coffee grounds in a uniform circle around the plant as a seedling, and keep the band topped up.
Vermicomposting (Worm Bins) Coffee grounds aren’t the only thing to put in a worm bin, of course, but mixed in as part of a balanced diet of cardboard, shredded paper, kitchen scraps, banana peels and the like, the worms seem to process coffee grounds without any issue.
Suppression of Fungal Diseases Decomposing coffee grounds have their own fungal and mold colonies and those fungal colonies tend to fight off other fungal colonies. The natural mold and fungus colonies on coffee “appear to suppress some common fungal rots and wilts, including Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species,” according to research. Incorporating coffee grounds into your compost may help to prevent build-up of nasty verticulum and fusarium wilt inoculates. Try throwing a handful of grounds into the transplant hole for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants, since these plants tend to be susceptible to various wilts.
Fertilizer Near Plant Roots (Side-Dressing) A coffee bean is a processed seed. As you’d expect, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, at about 10% “the carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds can be as low as 11:1, an ideal ratio for plant and soil nutrition,” according to WSU extension. With nitrogen levels like that, pure coffee grounds make an excellent fertilizer for leafy greens and hungry fruiting veg, like tomatoes and squash, early in their growth and particularly for spinach.
Natural Slug Deterrent Do you have some veg, like Napa Cabbage, that seems like a total slug magnet? Try banding coffee grounds in a uniform circle around the plant as a seedling, and keep the band topped up.
Vermicomposting (Worm Bins) Coffee grounds aren’t the only thing to put in a worm bin, of course, but mixed in as part of a balanced diet of cardboard, shredded paper, kitchen scraps, banana peels and the like, the worms seem to process coffee grounds without any issue.
Suppression of Fungal Diseases Decomposing coffee grounds have their own fungal and mold colonies and those fungal colonies tend to fight off other fungal colonies. The natural mold and fungus colonies on coffee “appear to suppress some common fungal rots and wilts, including Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species,” according to research. Incorporating coffee grounds into your compost may help to prevent build-up of nasty verticulum and fusarium wilt inoculates. Try throwing a handful of grounds into the transplant hole for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants, since these plants tend to be susceptible to various wilts.
Pick up a FREE bag of used coffee grounds at either location for your garden today!