Using coffee grounds in the garden is an economical and natural way to boost your growing power! Check out some of these simple ways to get started using your old coffee grounds outside!
Back in the day, when I used to run a coffee shop, we used to bag up all of our used coffee grounds and put them beside the door for our customers to take home and use in the garden. It was a busy coffee shop and we went through a lot of coffee, but we could never seem to keep that bin of old coffee grounds full. As soon as we put some out, they were gone. Some customers would see how popular they were and ask us how they could coffee grounds in the garden too. We used to always say that they were really good for roses, but there are a lot of other great uses for them in the garden too! Here are some of my favorites that I’m looking forward to trying out this year:
In The Veggie Patch
Work the coffee grounds into the soil around tomatoes and corn, or sprinkle them on the soil around lettuce, beets, broccoli, beans, and peas to deter rabbits and squirrels.
On Flowering Shrubs
Sprinkle old coffee grounds on the ground around roses, azaleas, and hydrangeas to keep them extra happy. Make sure to keep the overall depth of grounds to less than 1/2 inch in any one spot to avoid mold and mildew.
On Seedlings
Putting used coffee grounds into the water that you use on little seedlings can give them a nice nitrogen boost and help them along.
On Pests
A mound of coffee grounds a couple of inches high around an afflicted plant can be a natural way to deter slugs and ants!
Clean up
When it’s time to come in from the garden, scrub your hands with used coffee grounds for a great deep clean, exfoliation, and to remove smells like onion and garlic.
Do you use coffee grounds in the garden? Have any no fail tricks that we all need to know about? Share in the comments below!
More helpful gardening posts:
-
- How to successfully grow your first grape vines
- How to harvest basil for strong, healthy, productive plants
- How to use salt to get your weeds under control
- The best homemade ant killer recipe
- How to edge a new flower garden
- The most obvious natural weed killer ever (duh!)
- How to clean your well-loved Hunter boots
- Or check out my gardening archives!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.