Next time you are making your morning coffee, make sure you keep those grounds for using out in the garden. Here are ways to use those grounds instead of tossing them out.
Protect plants from ants & slugs
Place coffee grounds in a ring around plants that tend to attract ants or slugs.
Liquid coffee fertilizer
Add coffee grounds to a full watering can, and allow to steep for 24 hours, then use it to water your plants. Be sure the grounds are smaller than the holes in the watering can so it doesn’t plug it up.
Some plants love coffee
Some plants grow and bloom far better with a pH between 3.0 and 5.0, which coffee grounds help obtain. What plants? While most know hydrangeas love coffee grounds, others include gardenias, camellias, rhododendrons, vireyas, blueberries, cranberries and citrus plants.
Coffee grounds as mulch
Coffee grounds can be used as a mulch for your garden, be sure to add a pinch of lime to balance the pH.
Compost
Coffee grounds can speed up the decomposing process in your composter. In fact, many coffee shops give away their grinds for their customers to use in their compost pile. For best results, add 1 tsp lime for every 5 pounds of coffee grinds, and you never want more than a quarter of your compost pile to be coffee grounds. For compost ratio, coffee grounds are considered green material.
Keeping cats away
Cats generally don’t like the smell of coffee grounds, so it will keep them out of the garden for a few days, until the smell isn’t as strong.
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