Love throwing away ground coffee grounds after making a cup of coffee in the morning? With a lot of nutrient content, ground coffee can be used to fertilize your garden. Ground coffee is naturally acidic and rich in nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium which is perfect for alkaline soils or nutrient-poor gardens. With a little creativity, ground coffee can also be used to help with various activities in the garden.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Using Ground Coffee As Soil Supplement
Step 1. Add ground coffee to your compost
One of the easiest ways to use ground coffee grounds is to add them to your compost. In addition to providing additional organic elements, ground coffee can also speed up the decomposition process in compost. This benefit is very easy to take, as easy as putting ground coffee grounds into the compost pile and stirring the compost to mix the contents.
There are two main types of composting materials: “green” compost and “brown” compost. Ground coffee is considered a “green” compost together with other nutrient-rich wet ingredients. If you add a lot of ground coffee to your compost, counterbalance it by adding "brown" compost i.e. dry, bulky materials such as dry leaves, twigs, newspapers, straw, corn husks, sawdust and so on
Step 2. Add ground coffee directly to the soil to increase soil acidity
Ground coffee itself has a pH higher than the pH of your garden soil which is around 5.1. Although it is too acidic for some types of plants, this pH is suitable for plants that require extra high acidity. Spread a handful of ground coffee near the plant roots at the beginning of the growing season to get the acidity effect. Blueberries, cranberries, and citrus fruits love the addition of coffee to their soil. Other plants that love coffee are camellia plants, gardenias, rhododendrons, and vireyas.
Some flowering plants will give flowers of different colors in highly acidic soils. For example, hydrangeas will produce blue flower buds when coffee is added to the soil
Step 3. You can also add lime to balance the pH of the coffee
As previously mentioned, the natural acidity of coffee is not suitable for most ordinary gardens. To fix this, mix a little lime into the soil. Lime is naturally alkaline (or “base,” as opposed to acid) and will neutralize the acidity of ground coffee so you can add ground coffee directly to your garden as a protective layer or soil conditioner.
Lime (which is often sold under the names “garden lime” or “agricultural lime”) is lime powder that can be found in hardware stores or agricultural supply stores for a relatively low price
Step 4. Use ground coffee to add nutrients to your soil
Acidity is not the only thing ground coffee can offer. Ground coffee is rich in nutrients that are important for fertilizing plants. Therefore, if your garden is poor in nutrients, ground coffee is the right choice. See the explanation below:
- Ground coffee is rich in:
- Nitrogen
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Ground coffee has a small amount of content:
- Phosphor
- Calcium
Step 5. Alternatively, you can make liquid food for plants
You don't need to add ground coffee right away to your garden. You can also make nutritious food for plants and use this food to fertilize your plants. To make this nutritious meal, put a handful of ground coffee in a bucket of water. Place this coffee-added water in a cool place out of reach of people such as your garage, for example, for a day or two. This mixture of water and coffee will produce a yellow-brown liquid. Strain the coffee residue and use the liquid to water your plants.
This liquid will have the same level of acidity and nutrients as ground coffee. Therefore, use with caution if your plants do not require high acidity or nitrogen, potassium, etc
Method 2 of 2: Using Ground Coffee for Other Garden Work
Step 1. Use ground coffee to repel plant pests
Snails and slugs can kill your valuable plants, but they don't like coffee. Spread a handful of coffee around the base of the plant you want to protect. If you are concerned about the high acidity of the soil, spread the ground coffee around the plant at some distance from the base of the plant.
People think this can happen because the caffeine in ground coffee can harm these pests
Step 2. You can also use ground coffee to keep cats away from your garden
Ground coffee isn't just good for your little pet. Ground coffee can be used to prevent cats from harming your crops. In this case, use ground coffee the same way you use it to repel snails by spreading ground coffee around the plants you want to protect. The effect of acid on the soil is unavoidable depending on the amount of coffee you use.
Step 3. Use ground coffee to feed your earthworms
If you have a worm farm (vermiculture), you have the opportunity to use your ground coffee grounds. Worms really like ground coffee. Feel free to add ground coffee to your wormbox or compost heap full of worms. However, it should be noted that ground coffee is part of a balanced diet. Fruit and vegetable waste, newspapers, leaves and so on must accompany the ground coffee you add.
Step 4. Use ground coffee to prevent yeast infections from forming
Some suggest that ground coffee can prevent your plants from being attacked by certain types of fungus. By sprinkling some ground coffee, you can prevent mold from Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species from growing on your plants. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are easily infected with fungus. The use of ground coffee is the right choice for this type of plant.
Tips
- To get a free supply of ground coffee, you can cooperate with cafes around you. Many cafes give away ground coffee grounds that they have used and packaged well. If they don't already have a policy like this, ask them to set aside some ground coffee grounds for you. Since ground coffee grounds are considered waste, many cafes are happy to give them to you.
- If you don't know the acidity of your garden, read our article on soil pH testing.
