| Contributor
My primary uses for coffee grounds usually begin and end after their role in helping me alleviate drowsiness with my morning cup of coffee. However, I recently learned about their incredible garden benefits.
Reusing coffee grounds in your yard can increase soil fertility and decrease the amount of trash in your trash can each morning.
You can use coffee grounds for mulching or composting. To use the used coffee grounds as mulch, place half an inch in your garden bed, but then cover it with another layer of mulch, such as pine bark or straw. This prevents the coffee grounds from becoming too compacted, dense, and allows them to blend into the beds.
If you’re a coffee drinker and a composter, you’re in luck because coffee grounds work well in compost heaps. If you cover the site with other composting materials, they will continue to break down into rich compost, which is perfect for improving your garden soil.
Taste and caffeine are often the first ingredients coffee drinkers think of, but plants can get a lot more out of coffee grounds. Coffee grounds contain nitrogen and micronutrients like calcium, copper and magnesium. The terrain can also help improve soil structure and PH.
“The greatest potential benefit of using coffee grounds is the improvement in soil structure,” said Bethany O’Rear, regional representative for Alabama Extension. “The improvement of the soil structure is important because it creates more pore space and allows compacted layers to be broken up. The grounds also provide a healthy soil pH for plants. The soils have a slightly acidic pH of around 6.2 to 6.8. Most plants thrive in this pH range. ”
For more information about improving your lawn and garden, or other information about expanding it, please contact our office at 3200-A W. Meighan Blvd. Call us in Gadsden at 256-547-7936 or visit us on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3vspDg2 or online at https://bit.ly/3xyZwFX.
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M University and Auburn University) is an educator and employer on an equal footing. Everyone is welcome! Please let us know if you need accessibility.
Eric Wright is the Extension Coordinator for the Etowah County Extension Office.
