By lindal from Vista, CA
Source: My Grandmother
By JodiT from Aurora, CO
What plants do I put my used coffee grounds on? Is it best to turn it into the soil or just put around the base?
Thanks for any info.
Hardiness Zone: 7b
By Keeper from Blue Ridge Mountains, NC
By Keeper03/19/2011Laniegirl,t hank you for the site.It's a great source of information. Thanks for taking your time and answering my question.
I'm from Louisiana and I was wondering if used coffee grounds are good for the soil around my roses? I don't know enough about what roses need or what coffee grounds add to soil, so hopefully a more skilled gardener can shed some light on this.
By Jackie V.
By thriftyvicki04/30/2012I don't remember exactly what grounds add to soil (my mother also used tea grounds), but it is helpful to plants. If you want to use them around your roses, go for it!
What are some good uses for coffee grounds in the garden?
By joannedesimone from St. Charles, IL
By Carol in PA01/07/2013I just put used coffee grounds outside around my plants. It acts as mulch and fertilizer. I even use the filters! You can hide the filter under leafy vegetation.
If youre fussy, you can always make a compost heap.
What are some ways that I can use coffee grounds without composting them?
By Karen from Luthersburg, PA
By grossb95404/25/2013I just throw mine in the flower beds; don't even dig around them. I've heard they keep some bugs away. I know they are good for the soil.
I have several small flower beds around my home. I also use a Lot of coffee. Are there any suggestions for using the grounds from coffee to nourish my dirt, other than building a compost pile? Small yard/ close neighbors leaves no room for smelly leftovers.
By ThriftyFun
By O-mama
By ThriftyFun
By SueBee
By gardenway
By bjwebb
By chris g/burbank ca
Where I used to work this girl drank black coffee and used to dump her "dregs" into this plant at the end of the day. It was the healthiest plant in the office. Then she switch to herbal tea. That poor plant was never the same. (09/15/2005)
By Wifezilla
I found some unused bags of ground coffee from several years ago in the back of a cabinet. I don't want to use them for brewed coffee to drink. I know there are many uses for USED coffee grounds, but do they have to be used? Can I use them unbrewed or will it be to acidic for the yard or garden?
Kristen from Austin, TX
By louel53
By kinga
By LI Roe
By Yuska
By ThriftyFun
By ThriftyFun
Starbucks gives away bags of used coffee grounds free for the asking. Dump some on the ground of roses and other acid-loving plants and water. The coffee breaks down and feeds the plants and my roses have never been more beautiful or prolific.
By Linda
For more information visit:
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost.asp
By Jaide
By Tamara
Susan from ThriftyFun
Starbucks is trying to reduce their footprints in the environment and is giving out free coffee grounds for the garden. Coffee grounds are great to add to your soil to add nutrition to your plants. This also keeps the coffee grounds out of the landfills. Stop by your local Starbucks and see if they participate.
By Beth P. from Illinois
By gamehen
Each time I am required to drive even a short distance, I stop by every single place that sells coffee/tea, because that means "free grounds" that would otherwise go to the landfill and be wasted. Most owners/managers are friendly and willing to give them, but a few can't comprehend the importance and seem to be calculating the idea of "selling the grounds" one day. So, while they are free, take advantage of the opportunity, folks.
During the heat wave we recently all experienced, a record over the last 70 yrs., we all but lost our grass, as well while under water restrictions, which remain until our city water supply is replaced by rain. After tending to other essentials and basic needs, we were able to discover a free "fertilizer" which works, and quickly if done correctly.
Wearing gloves, hand spread the free gathered used coffee/tea grounds all over the grass, especially the "dead" places, like you might when fertilizing with chemicals, but as evenly as possible and slightly heavier than with chemicals.
I chose to do this just before an expected rain, because nothing good happens until the grounds are watered in, and because it is another free resource. One application needed watering in on my allotted day to water because weather reports are often unreliable.
The grounds are considered by gardeners for the compost as being "green" material, containing Nitrogen, a much needed nutrient for all green things. It provides great recycling use of a by-product of our coffee drinking and satisfies the grass because it perked up and is responding after only three days!
I plan to watch for any road/swim pool/fence construction and ask for any left over top soil for the huge cracks left by dryness, AND for low places. Should I be able to find an abundance of soil, I will add a top dressing over the coffee grounds.
There is even a use for the heavier used filter paper, other than in the compost: I stuffed them into the cracks around my foundation. The residual grounds seem to repel pests as well, and since most used grounds have a significant number of used filters to dig out, it helps to close the gaps.
If the coffee/tea is still in lumps as it was originally processed or packaged, the lumps need to be mashed before tossing onto the grass.
I have not over used the free grounds, so I believe the secret is to find the proper balance for whatever you apply it to. For my front yard of approximately 40'x90' feet, it takes about 15 gallons of grounds. I have St. Augustine grass where there is live grass.
It takes about 1 hour of making rounds to the places (restaurants, drive-throughs, bakeries, grills, even larger service stations) that sell coffee within two miles of my home, to gather that. I go two-three times/week, so far, and will continue until bad weather while en route to grocery, discount bread store, post office, bill paying, gas stations, neighborhood recycling center, $.50 movie evening, church, charity, curbside-bulk pickup, storing them in an outside receptacle at home until Spring, if any are left over. This way, I am not wasting gasoline.
I apply a little more around the drip line of our evergreen trees/shrubs, NONE around Fall leaf-losers. (I will do that for them in the Spring. )
I worked in a handful of grounds in a 20" pot of a salvaged Scheffera and two days later the leaves were not only perked WAY up but in four days there were new leaves and very glossy, whereas the old leaves were sparse, leggy stemmed, and dull leafed, a likely reason the previous owner tossed it curbside!
I am making a schedule with merchants who sell breakfast, for eggshells, to save them for me, too, although they require a special day for pick-up, and I cannot know for sure that I will have the gas on those days. It's harder to schedule, but if I can figure it out, it is worth it, also for both grass, garden and many container plants. Less impoverished friends/neighbors have proven to be more helpful, admiring how I keep trying to find ways, with God's grace and help to live within my "frugal" means.
God bless our frugal living and Thriftyfun.
By Lynda from TX
Editor's Note: Here's a good link about using coffee grounds from Starbucks: http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost.asp (12/14/2006)
By kim
By Cantate
Are coffee grounds good for all plants? I specifically want to know about coffee grounds and mums.
Are coffee grounds good for spruce trees and evergreens?
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Using Coffee Grounds in the Garden