Coffee Grounds In Gardens

Your coffee grounds may be brown in color but in compost jargon they are green material meaning an item that is rich in nitrogen.

Coffee grounds in gardens. Coffee grounds are approximately 145 percent nitrogen. Other green compost materials include food scraps and grass clippings. You could make tea from the coffee grounds to add to the garden. All of these nutrients are important to plants.

Before i dig into the controversy about coffee grounds in the garden lets examine their chemical makeup. Yes thats a bit of foreshadowing keep reading. You can use the coffee grounds as a slow release fertilizer for the garden. They also contain magnesium calcium potassium and other trace minerals.

On the flip side coffee grounds enhance sugar beet seed germination. The effects of coffee grounds on seeds and plants is variable unreliable and tough to call. Theyre full of caffeine. Sprinkle the used coffee grounds thinly onto your soil and rake in.

In other cases grounds inhibit seed germination of clovers red and white and alfalfa. I wouldnt suggest putting fresh coffee grounds on plants to acidify your soil either. Not the buzz youre looking for. And if your soil is already high in nitrogen the extra boost from coffee grounds could stunt the growth of fruits and flowers.

But those warnings ignore one big problem with spent coffee grounds. Heh ph humor sorry guys it looks like this common practice is pure myth spent coffee grounds are practically a ph neutral. Many gardeners say that adding fresh coffee grounds to the garden will help increase the nitrogen content of the soil and change the. Conversely grounds used as mulch and compost improve yields of soybeans and cabbage.

Coffee grounds are highly acidic they note so they should be reserved for acid loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. Freshly ground coffee the stuff thats straight from the bag or the grinder and hasnt been soaked or brewed is acidic and high in nitrogen. There are two types of compost material.