coffee grounds

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Permalink Reply by Kay Robbins on May 18, 2009 at 12:18pm

I let my coffee grounds dry before I use them. I just sprinkle them on the ground around the plant and then drop the filter in the compost.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Gibson on May 18, 2009 at 12:27pm

Thank you for the reply. We've been picking up the organic coffee grounds from a local coffee shop and adding them to the compost. I'll try the berries now.

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Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 3, 2009 at 6:12am

This is a great way to use up those coffee grounds. More people should know that most coffee shops are happy to save the grounds for you. I put the coffee grounds on just about everything I plant. Hadn't thought about my basil, I'll do that tomorrow morning as they are looking a bit piqued. coffee grounds should help them with nitrogen.

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Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 3, 2009 at 6:10am

tip on this. The filters make a great mulch around any number of plants.I just take the filters (I use the melitta #4 unbleached ones) and tear them in such a way that I can put them around the stem. I had slugs attacking my bush bean plants and this repelled them quickly. The ones I didn't put this around got devastated by the slugs. the ones I did put this around are thriving.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa on May 18, 2009 at 12:22pm

I used to dump the used wet grounds on the top of the soil around the base of my blueberries. I also would water them with leftover coffee once it cooled. They grew well until my husband wasn't paying attention and mowed my bush down. It was a big bush not a tiny seedling, not sure how he missed it, but down it went and in came a very apologetic man, lol. But it was very healthy and happy until 'the accident'. Didn't know you could do it with strawberries, though. Heard it was good for african violets, but I never grew them.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Gibson on May 18, 2009 at 12:26pm

Someone recently told me she thought our soil was so basic that the grounds would be buffered and ineffective. We're in a limestone formation, but I'm going to try it anyway. Thanks for the response.

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Permalink Reply by HeronoftheDarkwood on May 18, 2009 at 12:30pm

yes, they do love them... and roses do love banana peels (dried and chopped)... i take a nice mixture of dried eggshells and coffee grounds and take my cultivating tool and "punch holes" nearby to my plants, as not to damage the roots, and "plant" these compost items. i have only been doing this for two years now, but have had good results, especially with varieties of tomatoes that tend to split more easily than others. however, if you want to appease your tomatoes one step further, dig holes that will fit canned food cans, cut both ends off the cans and bury them aimed at the tomato roots, and water into the open end of the can. for some reason tomatoes benefit greatly from this root watering. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Jane Gibson on May 18, 2009 at 4:30pm

I think the tomatoes do better with the deep watering technique because the roots need to grow more deeply to absorb the calcium necessary to prevent splitting. Too much rain early in the season results in shallow roots and disappointing fruits. I have a friend who is a long-time tomato grower (for the local farmers' market) who NEVER waters her tomatoes after putting them in, and she plants them later than everyone else, i.e. June, to capture the late season market. They are instead heavily mulched with straw.

Banana peels? I'll try that but wonder what's in them that the roses need.

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Permalink Reply by HeronoftheDarkwood on May 21, 2009 at 9:41am

i think it's potassium in the peels. i know they love it tho. and if you can stand it yourself, plant some garlic near your roses, it keeps the japanese beetles away if you take a clove and crush it around the base of the roses now and then. i have even boiled garlic cloves than let the water cool and put it in a spray bottle and sprayed the foliage of my roses to keep those pesky beetles away.

what you said about the calcium that tomatoes need to keep from splitting might be the answer to why the eggshells work so well with your coffee grounds. the eggshells are a calcium source. and i really noticed the best difference with this mix in the thin-skinned tomatoes being a lot more resistant to rain-splits. :) that makes so much more sense to me now!

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Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 3, 2009 at 5:55am

I planted all my tomatoes with 10 eggshells in the hole this year, and a quart of bonemeal. And other stuff. including fish heads.

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Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 3, 2009 at 5:56am

thanks for this advice!

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Permalink Reply by Joy Williams on June 3, 2009 at 6:14am

Tomatoes like coffee grounds?

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