A sure sign of spring: Starbucks coffee grounds for the garden
I was just about to ask the guys at my favorite Starbucks ("extra-hot grande skim latte, please") when they would begin putting aside spent coffee grounds for us gardeners when I looked down and saw the familiar silver bags waiting for me.
Those coffee grounds are more a sign of spring for me than any robin. It means I can begin to get my beds ready.
Ground coffee is high in nitrogen, making it a very good for fast-growing vegetables. It is especially good for tomato plants, both for the nitrogen boost this heavy feeder needs and and for coffee's ability to help suppress late blight.
But I sprinkle the coffee grounds everywhere.
Last spring, I didn't bother with the little silver bags.
I asked my Starbucks guys to just tie up the giant plastic bag of spend grounds and I dragged it to the car. I'll bet I spread a couple of hundred pounds of grounds before spring was over.
The roses and the hydrangeas seemed to like the acid. But I spread the coffee grounds around all my shrubs and perennials and the spring rains soaked them in like a slow-released fertilizer. I dumped the extra into my compost pile to give it a nitrogen boost.
I have read testimony that coffee grounds are great for houseplants and for encouraging worms in your garden and discouraging slugs.
I can't say for sure that my gardens did appreciably better because of the coffee grounds. I could be just adding a chore to my long spring list.
But it gives me a good feeling to know all those grounds just don't go in the garbage behind my local Starbucks.
Comments
We put the coffee grounds into the compost pile. I'll have to try it as a fertilizer.
Posted by: NotableM | March 18, 2010 8:02 AM
What a great idea Susan! How did you start doing this? Did you go to your local starbucks and ask them to save them for you or do they periodically keep some on the side for people when they ask?
My Starbucks has a bucket up front with individual silver bags of spent grounds available for anybody who wants them. I think it is a company-wide program. Check with yours, or simply ask if you can have the spent grounds they are collecting behind the counter before they go in the garbage. -- Susan
Posted by: Brenda | March 18, 2010 9:31 AM
Nice article. I've written a few articles (and even created a web widget) about making your coffee coffee habit more environmentally friendly. Throwing used coffee grounds in the garden or compost heap is good for the garden and keeps cats from using the garden as a litter box.
The nitrogen in coffee burns ants legs, so it's a good insecticide too.
Cats and ants? Who knew?--Susan
Posted by: TheCoffeeMakerStore | March 18, 2010 12:03 PM
This is good to know, I've been using my own coffee ground for years (ever since, as a child, I went to a garden show and ran my fingers through a dish of grounds that were out to demonstrate what could go in a compost heap) but I've been concerned that they might be too harsh for the amount that I use them. Glad to know I can carry on!
Absolutely! -- Susan
Posted by: fea24 | March 18, 2010 12:03 PM
For some reason I've always liked the idea of using coffee grounds for fertilizer/compost. Plants do better when they've got the nutrients they need to grow, and like you say, coffee grounds have good amounts of nitrogen in them, which help in the breakdown of organic matter.
Posted by: Ann W | March 18, 2010 3:02 PM
You need branded coffee grounds or something for compost?!? Most local coffee shops will offer this for free.
My plants are very picky. Only Starbucks will do! No, seriously. You're right Brad. It is just that Starbucks has a corporate policy to do this. -- Susan
Posted by: brad | March 18, 2010 3:03 PM
Oh, sniff. Now I am missing my local Starbucks, which was one that was closed down a year or so ago. They were great about bagging the grounds. In my experience, not every Starbucks will do this--it's one more chore for them.
We have very heavy clay soil, and I am certain that top dressing with the used grounds has been helping to break up that heavy clay.
Posted by: Dahlink | March 18, 2010 3:20 PM
Coffee grounds will not deter cats or ants if my experience is typical ... or maybe I need to start drinking French Roast. The cats continue to visit and dig, and the ants are all over.
It does deter crickets - reportedly the caffeine messes up their reproductive hormones. Scattering coffee grounds heavily in the beds near my patio decreased their numbers noticeably over the course of a few months.
Posted by: Lazy Gardens | March 18, 2010 4:13 PM
I get my morning coffee at the Royal Farms on the corner. I wouldn't dare ask for coffee grounds. I guess that's one of the benefits of paying (a lot) more at Starbucks.
Lazy Gardens, my experience as a cat owner is, nothing will keep a cat away if he knows his presence is annoying!
Posted by: Eve | March 19, 2010 10:56 AM