One of the things I love about the pioneer lifestyle is they didn’t let things go to waste like we do in modern society. They reused old clothes as patches for other items or quilts. And there's one thing at our house that we have plenty of-coffee.
The coffee grounds you see below are called toddy grounds. It's a finely ground coffee that you allow to soak in cold water for 12 hours. It has 67% less acid than hot brewed coffee and doesn't bother my ulcer or stomach. It has the same amount of caffeine and I can heat it up if I want a hot cup of coffee. It stores in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and is the only way I can drink coffee. But regular hot brewed coffee will serve your purposes just the same. 🙂
The pioneers re-used everything and one thing most north westerners have plenty of in their home is coffee grounds. We enjoy a good cup of coffee on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Don’t toss those old grounds when you’re done with them. In true pioneer fashion, we’re going to put them to good use. 4 ways used coffee grounds benefit your garden and plants.Tweet this
- Place coffee grounds around your raspberries, blueberries, azaleas, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas, concentrating on the drip line. The level of acid left in used coffee grounds can vary, so they may not boost the acid level of your
soil much, but the aforementioned plants thrive in acidic soil. Coffee grounds provide nitrogen to the soil and they also provide some resistance to some common fungal rot and wilt. This is great for tomatoes, commonly susceptible to blossom end rot. - Use it in your compost pile or worm bin. Keep this to 20 percent of your total volume for best results.
- Use coffee grounds as mulch in your flower beds. It’s high in nitrogen and adds other minerals to your soil. Work in a small amount to the top of your mulch. Compacted in large amounts coffee grounds can keep oxygen and water from getting to plants. Do a thin layer and work in with other materials, such as wood chips.
- When planting new plants, mix in some coffee grounds with the soil to give it a quick boost. Don’t go too heavy, a little will go a long ways.
One caveat is to use organic coffee if you’re going to be placing them on your edible plants and berries.
I know Starbucks saves their used coffee grounds and have them available as a first come first serve basis. So even if you don't drink coffee, you can still get your hands on some grounds. We live over 45 miles away from the nearest Starbucks, so I haven't done this myself, but if you're close to one, swing by and grab some grounds for your plants!
Do you currently compost? What's your best gardening tips? How do you take your coffee? I like milk and raw sugar.
Get my free gift to you, Heirloom Gardening Guide-Plant to Save Money, with 2 other Free e-books here.
I prefer tea (my fave is a black tea from Kenya that a friend introduced me to after her trip abroad), but I do like coffee, too, if it’s well-doctored with sugar, cream, and maybe a dollop of chocolate (like the Cafe Mocha at Tim Horton’s!) My husband’s hi BP doesn’t allow him to drink coffee anymore, so I usually only get coffee when we’re out somewhere. Probably a good thing – several cups of sweetened and creamed coffee a day wouldn’t be good for my waistline!
Betty, I drink tea occasionally, usually a red tea. 🙂 If you need grounds for your garden, I’m sure a coffee drinking friend would be happy to oblige.
Yes, we do use coffee! We have K-cups, but they’re easy to open and dig the grounds out of for our compost bin. We’re hoping to get some good compost this year for our garden! And great tip on the azaleas/rhododendrons.
I’m excited you get to have a garden, Heather. (I think I remember you guys moved to a place w/ enough space to plant)
Melissa, I have so enjoyed reading your blog and I find myself saying, “I wonder what Melissa will be teaching us today” as I sit down at this computer. I was able to download the gardening guide and I just love it!
I don’t use coffee grounds for myself, but Organic Instant. However, I have asked my neighbors to save theirs for me and I have given them baggies to store it. Gardening is life to me, but haven’t thought about food gardening in years. However, you have inspired me and I am starting herbs again. Thank you for guiding me to use Google Chrome. Sharon
Sharon, I’m so happy to read you started herb gardening! And I’m glad you were able to download the book. 🙂 I love hearing from readers and thank you so much for sharing with me. It sounds like you have some good neighbors.
I always used our coffee grounds around the tomato plants, but I like these other ideas as well.
Glad I found your site!
Kathryn, I’m glad you found it, too! 🙂 Another good thing for tomato plants is ground up egg shells. I’m so ready for summer!
Good morning Melissa;
So happy to have found your website and your great ideas.
Re using coffee grounds; I’ve started composting again and using the grounds and tea grounds as well. My herb garden was a failure this year, but I shall try a new spot next spring and it will have the benefit of the compost.
We have had a lot of rain this summer as well as devastating hail which almost ruined my beautiful tomato plants; the yield will be minimal but will enjoy what we can consume just the same.
Do you have a recipe to make hand dispenser soap with soap slivers?
Hope to hear from you. God bless you and your family richly. Love, Joan
Joan, I’m so happy you found it, too. 🙂
Tea grounds is an excellent addition. I’m sorry your herb garden didn’t turn out this year, but I’m happy to hear you’re not giving up. Somethings just take time, but are worth the effort, and I think gardening is one of them.
I don’t have a hand dispenser soap, but I’m asking my readers if any of them do and I’ll get back to you with the answers.
Blessings,
Melissa
I saw my coffee grounds and egg shells and run them through the blender to a fine dust together and will be adding them to the tomato plants this year. I also save our banana peels in a zip bag in the freeze and am planing on adding them to the garden at planting time as well. Thanks for the reminder about not putting to much as I have a tendency to think if a little is good more is better! Not always the case!
[…] your soil or change the PH level. But how? It’s easy peasy. If your soil is too alkaline add coffee grounds, citrus peels, peat moss, or pine […]
[…] How to use coffee grounds in your garden […]
[…] You can even add your own soil additives from some of your common kitchen scraps, check out re-using coffee grounds in your garden […]
Awesome, I’ve always heard plants like coffee too 🙂 I’m glad to hear about why and how much, It saves a whole lot of experimenting (and crop loss) to start off with a good base of information. I love learning the science behind everything, God is beyond clever how he made everything to work together, from the stars billions of light years away all the way down to the molecular level, and beyond, I am sure…I just added some Coffee and eggshell breakfast mulch to my tomatoes, One of my Heirloom black Cherokee tomatoes has been feeling poorly since I tied him up 🙁 I did tie him loosely with nylon stockings, but he is still quite upset) and my grape tomatoes are showing signs of blight, I tried the penny trick, hoping it helps…
Oh and I like my coffee black, straight-up… like my Daddy!!
Occasionally I add fluff when I’m needing some comfort food, my fluffy coffee I like nutty, with pie spice and sweet cream, almond milk, or coconut milk…
[…] 4 Ways to Re-Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden […]
I am the king of coffee grounds – over 200 pounds a week from Starbucks. It goes into my compost pile, and I add it to any new vegetable beds I develop. One question: Does anyone feel that the value of the (possible) acidic nature of used coffee grounds is off set by the amount of nitrogen that the grounds add to the soil? Raspberries need an acidic soil, but too much nitrogen can lead to green leafy plants with few berries.
[…] I’ve found various reports on the acidity of used coffee grounds. Some articles say it’s only about a 5 while others say it’s more. Regardless of how acidic it is, it’s excellent food for your bush and something most of us have on hand. I put a good layer of this around the base of my blueberry bushes, making sure to mix it up so it doesn’t grow mold. Here is my article on 4 tips for using coffee grounds in the garden. […]
I love composting! Composting and recycling reduce our actual waste to one small grocery bag per week for our family of three! For me, egg shells do not break down well or quickly. My new answer to that is to crush them, either by hand or if dry, in the blender. My neighbor who is very successful with her tomatoes uses egg shells in her tomato pots. Apparently, tomatoes love the nitrogen in the shells.
Melissa, I have been an organic veggie gardener before it became popular. My mom lived through the depression and she told me stories of how she lived during that time in history. She was an avid canner and saver and recycler. I learned from her. I can my veggies and freeze too. As far as recycling, we wash out plastic food baggies and let them dry and then reuse them. We don’t reuse meat and chicken baggies though. We reuse plastic utensils and auluminum foil too. We reuse plastic wrap and bread bags. My mom use to dump her dishpan into her flower gardens rather than down the drain. She had beautiful flowers. To protect her cabbage heads from worms in the garden she would drop a big handful of salt into a pail of water and then swish it with a tree branch. Then she would shake that tree branch over the cabbage heads. The worms would swell and explode from eating the salt. We would go out to the potato rows and pick the potato beetles off by hand and squeeze the eggs found on the underside of the potato leaf. My mother had an acre of veggies. We had potatoes all winter long, potato pancakes, cheese and potato pierogi’s, chuck steak with homemade gravy and mashed potatoes, and potato dumplings. She canned all kinds of relishes, chow-chows, beets, pickles, whole green tomatoes, eggplant relish, strawberry preserves, blueberries for pies, applesauce, pears, peaches, quince preserves. We ate good homegrown food and I learned to save money and how to be frugal. Life’s lessons that aren’t taught today.
Kathleen
Thanks so much for sharing, I”m going to give that salt water trick a try!
Thank you for the tips! I will definitely begin setting aside our coffee grinds for our blueberry bushes. We do compost and have been throwing our coffee grinds in with all of our other kitchen waste.
I appreciate your advice and tone of your writing. Keep up the good work!!
First time checking in to your site and found it fun and full of info. My blueberry plants are five years old and produce well with removal of dead wood only. I will try your pruning hints this coming winter or maybe now. I live in Bend OR and have a much dryer climate but get 6-8 inches of growth a year. Have to look over my plants to see how I am doing. I have been waiting to prune back some but needed some advise, thanks. I also have 50 feet of raspberries that are ever bearing and produce early on last years shoots and again in fall on this years shoots. Any advise here on pruning? I’m a bit new at this. Thanks also for the scripture.