I’ve been thinking about adding used coffee grounds to my garden and worm bins for a little while. Yesterday I finally called up my local coffee shop and asked them to save all of their used grounds for me to pick up later in the day.

Toss them into the Garden. Used coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen and is very beneficial to tomatoes and other vegetables. I just sprinkle the grounds around my plants and gently mix it into the soil. You do want to make sure that you are using used coffee grounds. Fresh coffee may be too acidic for many plants.

Deter pests. Another benefit to using coffee grounds is that they help ward off garden pests. I have an infestation of ants in my community garden plot. Hopefully this will annoy them enough that they move on to a new home. Other pests that coffee grounds will deter are slugs, snail, and cats.

Feed the worms. I’m also tossing the coffee grounds into my worm bins. Worms love coffee! Is there any caffeine left in the used grounds? Does it make them work faster? I don’t know, but they sure do love the stuff.  Make sure to keep an eye on the ph level though. Balance the coffee grounds with crushed up egg shells.

What other ways are you using coffee grounds in the garden? Comment below.

Tags: can I compost lint, coffee grounds, Compost, Composting, Vermicompost, what can I compost, worm composting

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 8:45 am and is filed under Composting, Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

23 Responses to “Coffee Grounds In The Garden”

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