Used Coffee Grounds ideas

Moderation

Moderation folks, moderation. Sprinkle coffee grounds in small amounts around your plants and those in the garden is the best advice.

Caffeine

Please keep in mind the fact that coffee grounds will still have some residual caffeine in them so best to avoid sprinkling them around seeds and seedlings as we understand that caffeine can inhibit growth.

Around plants

Try not to pile up thick layers of coffee grounds around any plants for the same caffeine reasons but also because too much of anything is not good for your plants. Coffee grounds, by their mere nature are made up of very fine particles and in a similar way to clay they can all stick together and form an almost impenetrable layer that stops water getting through to your plants.

Mulch

Mix your coffee grounds in with your home made compost and other mulch materials if you are going to use them in a mulching situation. The solution is to incorporate the coffee grounds into the top layer of soil by raking or lightly turning over the soil. A little more often is better than a lot less often.

Pigments

Coffee grounds still have a lot of their natural pigments which can stain certain surfaces. A situation you want to avoid is sprinkling the coffee grounds around your coffee ground loving pot plants which are sitting on porous tiling on your favourite balcony. Even with saucers to catch overflow from watering there is still the possibility of overwatering by an unintentional plant lover or too much rain and your beautiful balcony tiles get stained.

Acid

Coffee grounds range from being acidic to slightly alkaline however you shouldn’t rely on them to acidify higher ph soils and potting mixes.

Not all plants like coffee grounds but the following acid loving plants certainly won’t mind: 

• Roses 
• Azaleas and rhododendrons
• Carrots, radishes and cabbages
• Hydrangeas and lilies

Our understanding is that tomatoes aren’t all that partial to coffee grounds.

Composting

A good sized compost bin that has many other varied sources of materials will cope just fine and the end result will be better off for it. Coffee grounds count as a ‘green’ item for composting and needs to be balanced out and mixed in with ‘brown’ items for the best compost. Most paper type coffee filters can also go in compost.

Worm farms can also handle coffee grounds and we encourage you to experiment with your worms and their ‘caffeine’ habits.

Dogs

The irresistible aroma of Hillbilly Coffee Roasters Coffee Grounds, even in their used state can be just as attractive to man's best friend. If your dog loves digging in the garden and eating things before knowing whether they are good for them or not please incorporate them into your garden soil as much as possible.