Tips: Coffee Gardening

Video by Melissa McGinnis - http://twitter.com/trashtalkin
Blog by Joe Laur - http://twitter.com/GreenopolisJoe

Boy, Melissa must drink enough coffee to keep a whole neighborhood of Starbucks gong. Or at least she finds enough uses for grounds that throwing them away should never be an option. Theres a lot of interesting things in this video post- from the ant protection that coffee grounds produce to the help for the bloomin flowers.

According to Doug Greens Simple Gifts Farm, theres solid evidence that green gardeners should be reusing this waste to resource stream in the garden.

The site states that research on slugs and caffeine shows that concentrations of caffeine as low as .01 % reduces feeding by slugs . But those concentrations dont kill. It takes 1-2% caffeine solutions to kill slugs as effectively as the chemicals normally used, but at that strength it can damage plant leaves. Coffee grounds contain about 05% caffeine. So coffee grounds will not kill slugs but can deter them from your plants. Nice. Chases them away without slug murder. How very vegan.

And apparently coffee grounds make great mulch, particularly for plants that like acidic soils. The site states that they are acidic with a pH of between 3.0 and 5.0 making them superb for mulching rhododendrons, azalea and other acid loving plants.

And you can scatter them thinly all over the rest of your garden as organic soil amendments. You need to add inches of the stuff to change the pH.

As Melissa state, worms love coffee grounds and gardeners and gardens love worms! The coffee grounds are food source for the little crawly guys.

Doug Green recommends tossing the grounds out daily- dont save them, as they can mold. And they compost very well in your regular compost bin. They are similar to grass clippings in their carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. On top of that the microbes that do the composting will turn the coffee from acidic to a neutral pH. Wont make your compost more acidic. You can read more here.

By the way, if youre lucky enough to have a coffee roaster company nearby, like our good friend and Greenopolis Partner Deans Beans, they will often give you the bean chaff the hulls left from the roasting process- make great smelling mulch on flower beds and walkways!

So enjoy that cup of Joe in your breakfast garden, and toss the grounds right on the ground. This is one of the few products that you really can throw away!

Category:

Education

[GORT192]

would that work for blueberries? coz i heard they like high acid soil? and can you overdo it and hurt the plant?

[GreenopolisTV]

@GORT192 Blueberry bushes are acid-loving plants so you can regularly sprinkle used coffee grinds at the base of the bushes and mix into the soil. But yes, you should be a bit careful not to over do it.

[tanagaba]

Very re-watchable. :) Should be on cable too.

[GreenopolisTV]

@tanagaba thanks! New videos 3 times a week on here for now. :-)

[missanna208]

Is she wearing a tiara? Why? It's hard to take people seriously when they are being silly.

[GreenopolisTV]

@missanna208 Just trying to have some fun with these videos! Most people prefer some "personality" over just another boring reporter. :-)

[jonathanhaslar]

Lol!

"No more ants, no more uncles..."

Comedy gold!

[arbonac]

small boobs

[chazfensk]

Most beautiful gardener I have ever seen!

[dougsnuts]

1:20 as close as she gets to taking off her top.

[norcalkook]

Hahtcha! Are you single?

[1anthonybrowning]

She must be from California or something and has never been exposed to the fire ant that invades the south. If she had, she would want to destroy them. Oh, by the way, for those who do not know, fire ants are invasives. They hitched a ride here from South American.

[lifekreator]

Great tip i might try that in my fish powered garden for ant control and increasing the acidity of the water for an experiment, hopefully it doesnt harm the fish. You can be a part of my garden anyday, how about coming to Australia and teaching me all about gardening...Hehe

[beefree1]

...some very funny comments...

[CafeSquirrel]

"It takes 1-2% caffeine solutions to kill slugs as effectively as the chemicals normally used, but at that strength it can damage plant leaves. Coffee grounds contain about 05% caffeine. "

Um... If 1-2% can kill slugs... I'm pretty sure 5% in coffee grounds would murder the slugs! Someone needs to either correct a typo or correct what they are stating...

[kpeavey2]

She makes me grow

[antigrav118]

she's cute and awesome