Coffee and gardening are two very common and easy passions to combine when you know the right tips! To reduce waste and litter while pampering your garden, these simple uses for coffee grounds will make your day. This natural fertilizer is full of nutrients for the garden and has more than one trick up its sleeve! Chemicals can be put to rest. Head to the coffee maker to fill up.
1) To clean your hands
After some gardening or outdoor work, hands can be covered with dirt. If soap is not enough to clean quickly and effectively in these conditions, using coffee grounds will help scrub off all the residue. By using coffee grounds after your garden work, your hands will be perfectly clean and soft.
2) Compost your coffee grounds
Coffee grounds are a wonderful source of nitrogen to enrich your compost. You don’t want to put too much coffee grounds in, though, because a compost should have a perfect balance of nitrogen and carbon. If it starts to smell a bit, it is surely lacking in carbon (dried leaves, sawdust, twigs…).
3) Slugs hate it
It is an excellent slug and snail (and ant) repellent for your fruits and vegetables. As with crumbled eggshells, the gritty texture of coffee grounds is simply unbearable for them. The neighbor’s cats will also think twice before scratching your tomato plantation! So you can make a barrier around plants and seedlings that are at risk of invasion and remember to re-spread it after a rainfall.
4) To improve soil structure
As explained earlier, coffee grounds bring nitrogen, so they are not recommended on soil that is already loamy. On the other hand, this nutrient will improve the structure of your soil and it is a choice food for small earthworms that will come and feast on it, helping you to aerate a soil that needs more drainage.
5) Coffee grounds as fertilizer
You can use this fertilizer directly in the soil of the vegetable garden after having turned it over a little. Then remember to work the soil and tamp it down a bit. You can also use it at the foot of the plants you have decided to grow for a better fertilization. Alternatively, an infusion of coffee grounds can provide the boost that nitrogen, potassium and phosphate loving plants have been waiting for! Brew about 50 grams of coffee grounds overnight in five liters of water, filter and use this liquid fertilizer from time to time to enrich the soil. Your roses will bloom beautifully with this powerful organic material!
6) Coffee grounds protect plants from diseases
Against fungus that settles on fruits and causes them to rot or wilt leaves, it is worth trying to sprinkle a little coffee grounds around plants at risk (beans, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers…). This preventive gesture should make all the difference. And if it can help you fight harmful fungi, it can also help you grow them at home! To understand how this is possible, check out this YouTube video.
7) Coffee grounds will make your lawn green
By aerating and fertilizing the soil, coffee grounds will do your lawn proud. To do this, we recommend mixing it with horticultural sand and sprinkling it on the lawn.
8) Coffee grounds in mulch
When it decomposes, mulch is very greedy for nitrogen and gets it from the soil. This depletes the soil of this substance that is crucial to plant health and is something that should be avoided. Adding coffee grounds will give the mulch everything it needs to decompose healthily without harming your plantings.
9) Coffee grounds are a great addition to vermicomposting
As mentioned above, coffee grounds in the garden are a great addition to worms. However, we advise you not to overuse it and to always remember to vary the waste for a good vermicomposting!
I have 30 years of experience and i started this website to see if i could try and share my knowledge to help you.
With a degree a Horticulture BSc (Hons)
I have worked as a horticulture specialist lead gardener, garden landscaper, and of course i am a hobby gardener at home in my own garden.
Please if you have any questions leave them on the article and i will get back to you personally.
