Coffee Grounds Garden Fertiliser

Is Coffee Grounds Good For Gardening And Why?

We want to avoid the use of chemical fertilisers in our garden, especially if it is a vegetable garden. We can use different organic items to fertilise the plants in the garden. People use egg shells, tea leaves, coffee ground and other reuse soil enhancers to make the soil fertile. As a rule, but not to the so serious gardener coffee grounds would be usually going to waste and thrown away. The coffee is used in different ways in the garden. The used coffee ground can increase the nitrogen content of the soil and can make the soil acidic. It also improves the texture and fertility of the soil, thus promoting plant growth.

Different Ways to Use Coffee

As A Fertiliser
The coffee grounds contain about 2% nitrogen and less than 1% of magnesium, potassium, calcium, and some trace minerals. These minerals can affect the plant growth when coffee grounds are added to the soil. They make the soil acidic, and most plants require slightly acidic soil up to neutral to grow best. You can use used coffee grounds to fertilise rose plants, blueberries, tomatoes, evergreens, etc. Coffee grounds increase the organic content of the soil and it helps in improving drainage and soil aeration. Coffee grounds when added to soil increase the activity of microorganisms in the soil which are beneficial to the plants. Earthworms also get attracted to the soils and they are rich in organic content.

Making the Compost

Coffee grounds can be added to the compost pit to provide organic content to the earthworms feeding on the organic matter as well as to maintain the temperature of the compost pile. Maintaining proper temperature helps in faster decomposition by the microorganisms. This compost can give necessary nourishment to the plants when added to the soil.

Watering With Diluted Coffee

Brewed coffee can be diluted and used for watering the plants as it contains magnesium and potassium which can give nutrition to the plants. Make sure that you dilute the brew before you use it for watering. Only plants loving acidic soil can withstand watering with diluted coffee. Do not use diluted coffee to water the plants regularly. Regular use of this can increase the acidity of the soil and may result in yellowing of the leaves.

As A Liquid Fertiliser

You can make liquid fertiliser using ground coffee. Take half a bucket of water and add at least 2 cups of used coffee grounds into it. Keep this overnight and filter the liquid. You can use this as liquid fertiliser to add to soil or can be used as foliar feed.

How to Use Coffee Safely In Garden?

• One should be careful when using coffee grounds for gardening.
• Avoid using rotted or fermented coffee grounds.
• Make sure that you are using fresh, used coffee grounds as fertiliser or for adding to compost. It is better to use drip grounds as they will have more nitrogen content than the boiled ones.
• Sprinkling the grounds to the garden soil will act as a slow releasing fertiliser.
• If you want to make the soil acidic by adding coffee grounds, you should opt for unwashed coffee grounds.

Apart from these uses of coffee, many gardeners use coffee grounds for mulching the plants. It can be used alone or with other organic mulch.