How Coffee Grounds Can Benefit Your Garden

There are plenty of garden fertilizers on the market today, but it can be difficult to find all natural products if you have an organic or non-synthetic garden. One common household item that often gets overlooked is coffee grounds.Coffee grounds can  be useful in your garden in a variety of ways, though each use comes with their own pros and cons. Luckily, most problems have a simple solution:

 

Coffee Grounds as a Mulching Agent

Pros: The grounds provide nitrogen that plants thrive on to grow.

 

Cons: They can prevent necessary air and water from getting to the plants if used alone.

 

How to use: Mix the grounds with an organic mulch so the grounds don’t smother the delicate plants.

 

Grounds as an Addition to Compost

Pros: The coffee creates nitrogen-rich soil for the plants and keeps the compost at ideal temperatures, which keeps out potentially harmful pathogens.

 

Cons: The grounds can smother the plants if they are used alone.

 

How to use: Mix with your compost for the most benefits.

 

Using Coffee Grounds as a Fertilizer

Pros: Earthworms are attracted to the grounds and will help to fertilize the plants. It will also boost the growth of plants that thrive on nitrogen, such as tomatoes and roses, by creating a slightly acidic environment to the soil.

 

Cons: Plants that don’t necessarily thrive on nitrogen might not benefit as much from coffee grounds as plants that do thrive on nitrogen.

 

How to use: Mix the grounds into the soil to dilute the concentration of coffee grounds and make the nutrients from the grounds more accessible to the plants.

Coffee Grounds as a Pesticide

Pros: Coffee grounds keep plant-eating slugs and snails away so they can keep growing.

 

Cons: They cannot be used in large quantities because it could harm the plants.

 

How to use: Simply mix with mulch to use as a pesticide.

Using coffee grounds in your garden can be very beneficial depending on the type of garden you have and your specific needs. If you are not a coffee drinker, most local coffee shops have free grounds available during the summer for your use. Happy planting!