Coffee Grounds in Your Garden

Your garden is your haven and refuge, a place to escape the humdrum of everyday life. A gazebo or pergola in the garden can make it look stunning and also offers a place to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Make sure your garden oasis stays vibrant and alive by using something that you would normally discard – coffee grounds in your garden!

Here are some amazing ways to use coffee grounds in your garden and give your garden a much-needed perk-me-up without resorting to chemicals.

Make Your Compost More Nutrient Rich

Coffee grounds are filled with garden-friendly nutrients and properties. They contain nitrogen, lighten and loosen soil, attract earthworms, and act as a deterrent against garden pests. In addition, coffee grounds have a pH anywhere from neutral to acidic and this can prove to be a boon for soils that are alkaline.

Fertilize Your Garden

As coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, you can fertilize your vegetable patch with them. They are an excellent natural fertilizer that replenishes the lost nitrogen in the soil. Sometimes, coffee grounds also contain a high volume of carbon and this too can work wonders with the soil.

Give Acid-Loving Plants a Treat

If you grow tomatoes, azaleas, and rhododendrons, they will thrive on coffee grounds. These plants love acidic soil and when you feed them with a coffee ground solution, they will give a better yield. Just soak the coffee grounds in plenty of water and the following morning use the solution to water your acid-loving plants.

Show Some TLC to Roses

If you are a lover of roses, give your rose plants something to feel happy about. Feed them coffee grounds and watch them bloom in abundance. The neutral to acidic pH and nitrogen in the grounds are like a feast for roses.

Make Organic Mulch

Use coffee grounds as an organic mulch. They will prevent weeds from growing, help the soil retain moisture, and protect against soil erosion. Just make sure you put a fine layer of coffee grounds on the soil. If you do not, it will attract mold that could wreak havoc with your plants and garden.

Keep Tabby at Bay

While cats are not really pests, they can threaten the birds and other wildlife in your garden and also leave behind a stinking mess. If you want to deter cats from getting comfortable in your garden, putting coffee grounds on the soil is a good way to keep them at bay and prevent them from digging up the soil or eating plants that could be potentially dangerous for them.

Protect Your Plants from Fungi

Coffee grounds can protect your plants from fungal diseases, such as wilts and rots. According to some experts, coffee grounds have the ability to create their own type of fungus, which is extremely helpful to the common gardener. So, use the grounds in your garden and enjoy healthy and disease-free plants.

Alter the Color of Your Hydrangea

As weird as it may sound, coffee grounds have the ability to change the color of hydrangeas. If the soil is alkaline, you will get pink blooms. However, most gardeners yearn for and desire blue blooms, which only grow in acidic soil. Add coffee grounds to the soil and watch a miracle happen – a change in the color of your hydrangeas.

Boost the Yield of Carrots

Just like coffee stimulates you, the grounds can stimulate carrots to increase their yield. When you plant carrot seeds in your vegetable patch, mix dried coffee grounds with the seeds. Not only will the yield increase, you also will be able to protect the seedlings from pests.

Keep Nasty Pests as Bay

There is nothing more disturbing and frustrating than finding pests gnawing away at your plants after all the hard work you have put in. Instead of using chemicals to keep away that creepy crawlies from your garden, use coffee grounds. Just place the grounds around the plants that are favored by snails and slugs. You also can put the grounds around ant holes to prevent them from invading your garden.

That’s right, coffee grounds in your garden ward off bugs too!

Give Your Vermicomposting a Nutrient Boost

Gardeners who vermicompost claim adding coffee grounds can give the compost a nice dose of nitrogen and other soil-friendly nutrients. However, there is a lot of debate over this addition. Anecdotal evidence shows adding a few coffee grounds into the vermicomposting pit does not harm the worms. So go ahead and try it, give your compost an injection of nutrients like never before.

Can coffee grounds paint your house? No, sorry, they cannot do that.

Now you know of some weird but helpful ways to enrich your garden soil using coffee grounds. Use these tips so that the next time you are sitting in your gazebo or pergola, you will feel thrilled at the vibrantly colored blossoms thriving and flourishing around your yard.