If you are keen on organic gardening, used coffee grounds can benefit your garden in many ways. You can use it as mulch, fertilizer for some plants, a natural pesticide, and more.
Below, we’ll expand on these and other common uses for coffee grounds in the garden.
1. Add to Compost
By composting coffee grounds, you’re, in effect, adding nitrogen to the compost [1]. This helps complement other organic material and produces a fertile soil amendment.
To compost coffee grounds, throw them in your compost bin and mix them well. A good measurement is to put in one-third of the coffee grounds with the same amount of grass clipping and dried leaves.
Coffee filters can go in the compost too, and it might be an idea to ask the local coffee shop or café for any leftovers.
2. Fertilize with Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds are good for your acid-loving plants, in that you can use them to fertilize the soil around these plants.
To use coffee grounds as fertilizer, sprinkle them on the soil around plant roots and leave them there.
Alternatively, make a homemade coffee ground “tea” for plants by adding two cups of used coffee grounds to five gallons of water. Leave it to steep in the water overnight. Finally, use the solution as a liquid fertilizer for your plants.
3. Keep Away Slugs and Snails
Coffee grounds also make a great natural repellent for slugs and snails because of their abrasive texture and unpleasant smell. However, a potent caffeine solution works better as it will poison them.
To use coffee grounds as a slug repellent, sprinkle some on the soil around the affected plants.
You can also make a caffeine spray for slugs and snails from freshly brewed coffee. Just combine one part brewed coffee with nine parts water [2]. Spray it directly on the pests and plant foliage.
4. Cat Repellent
It is said that coffee grounds make excellent cat repellents. Cats dislike the smell of coffee.
Therefore, sprinkling some fresh, wet coffee grounds in the areas they tend to use as litter trays may deter them. You can also sprinkle some around the borders of your garden.
Rabbits and squirrels are also thought to be repelled by coffee grounds, so this method is worth a try to protect your lettuce and other garden vegetables.
5. Grow Mushrooms
Another way to use coffee grounds for gardening is to grow mushrooms.
Growing mushrooms can be a tricky process. However, oyster mushrooms grow well in coffee grounds [3].
Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, plus other nutrients like potassium, magnesium, iron, and phosphorus. Moreover, they have been sterilized naturally in the brewing process.
6. Add to Your Worm Bin
Unlike cats, slugs, and snails, worms just love coffee grounds.
They need some gritty food to help with digestion. So, coffee grounds in the vermicomposting bin are a great addition to helping earthworms thrive.
Add offee grounds to your worm bin, doing so in moderation and being careful not to let it get too acidic. However, if that should happen, you can always add some crushed eggshells to moderate the soil’s acidity.
You will also attract earthworms to the soil when the compost is added. The earthworms will, in turn, help improve soil structure after they’ve deposited what they’ve consumed deep into the soil.
7. Use as a Mulch
A popular use of composted coffee grounds is incorporating them directly into the vegetable garden or flower bed as mulch. Spread around the base of plants, they provide a nutrient-rich mulch.
Composted coffee ground mulch can be particularly beneficial to acid-loving plants like azaleas, gardenias, rhododendrons, and some root veggies like carrots.
However, avoid using it on plants that do not like acidic soil.
8. Repel Ants
Coffee grounds repel ants rather than kill them. These common insects do not like the scent and acidity of the grounds.
Therefore, sprinkling some coffee grounds in ant nests and in areas like doorways will drive ants away.
Plants That Like Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer
Fruit trees and vegetables that benefit from composted coffee grounds include blueberries, carrots, elderberries, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and radishes.
Other acid-loving plants that benefit from coffee grounds are flowers and shrubs like zinnias, camelia, azaleas, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas.
Some houseplants and potted plants also benefit from coffee grounds when used as mulch, pesticide, or fertilizer.
Takeaway
As you can see, there are many benefits to using coffee grounds in the garden. So, do not throw away your used coffee grounds. Try incorporating them in your garden instead!
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