ummm....used or un-used? I'd always heard unused grounds were bad. Please edumacate me?

With me it's always been used grounds ... after the coffee has brewed! I sometimes get lax about doing it and feel guilty throwing them in the trash. An elderly neighbor of mine spreads her used coffee grounds around her garden every single day after she finishes her morning coffee.

I have used the coffee grounds in one of my potted new zealand flax..I'd say it seems to have improved its growth afterwards...and I also use it in my potted plants to fight off slugs..they hate coffee grounds

Great tip Lin and wonderful photo Cinda.
During the winter I use an old laundry detergent bucket to save the coffee grounds in. When I get a break in the weather I go out and spread them.

Now, THAT elderly neighbor of Lin's sounds like a dedicated gardener! I take my time...by the time I put them out, there's a whole bag of grounds.
http://www.gardeningchannel.co...

I put all coffee grounds in the compost or direct in the beds. Our soil is extremely alkaline and in need of acid amending.... I put the used loose tea and tea bags in the beds or compost too. ... and the paper filters.

Ditto

gardengus/Cinda: I too thank you for that photo! I supplied a few tips but many were without photo's.

Lynn: Great tip of saving them in a bucket! I've kept them in plastic zip lok bags in the refrigerator for months at a time but a bucket would be much easier!

Linda: Thanks for that link, great information ... when I had a compost bin at my old house I would throw the coffee and filters into the compost as well.

Susie: Yep, into the compost heap or directly in the beds ... coffee grounds are a great soil amendment.

Yes, I do add it to compost also. And ditto on the spent tea bags...I'm a tea drinker and DH drinks coffee. And it really does increase the earthworms after you dig it into the soil for a while! Earthworms are soil-builders, which are really needed on my place! Other than caliche, rocks and limestone, the yard is mostly just a bit of soil I've brought in and put on top of everythig that was there before. Caliche will kill many kinds of plants if their roots get to it. One reason I like those great Texas Hill Country natives...many of them tolerate my original soil.

We have mostly sand and shell in this part of Florida so amending the soil is always a good idea.

Nice tip, Lin. I love to see any kind of encouragement when it comes to composting and/or recycling.

As a tidbit of information, when I was giving a class to some gardeners several years ago I read lots of research on coffee, coffee grounds, usage of, etc. It turns out that the used grounds are considered neutral on the pH scale and don't necessarily contribute to lowering the pH of soils. Apparently the acid is water soluble and when brewed it goes into the coffee itself, leaving the grounds at around 6.4 to 6.9, still in near neutral zone required by most plants.

I thought using the coffee (liquid) itself would help some of my gardenias, with it being more acidic than the spent grounds, but it only helps temporarily, similar to how vinegar would only help lower the pH temporarily.

On a good note, this means you can use the spent grounds to your hearts content knowing you aren't increasing the acid level of your soil but rather feeding some good nitrogen to the soil (or rather feeding the bacteria that turn it into N), increasing earthworm population (and their happiness!), and as mentioned above, composting and recycling. Ta-dahh! :>)

Drink coffee. Have fun.
Looking forward to some more good tips!

Shoe

Horseshoe said:On a good note, this means you can use the spent grounds to your hearts content knowing you aren't increasing the acid level of your soil but rather feeding some good nitrogen to the soil (or rather feeding the bacteria that turn it into N), increasing earthworm population (and their happiness!), and as mentioned above, composting and recycling. Ta-dahh! :>)Shoe

Thank you Shoe ... this is great information to know ... a garden can never have too many earthworms!

Coffee grounds are also great for keeping the critters away. Some unknown creature was digging at my azalea roots and exposing them. I'm still not sure if it was squirrels, voles, cats, or raccoons. I decided to cover up the holes with spent coffee grounds I got from the local Starbucks, and they haven't been disturbed since!

plantladylin said:

Thank you Shoe ... this is great information to know ... a garden can never have too many earthworms!

Yeh, I love earthworms. One of my favorite pets is an earthworm, named Wiggly-giggly, who always seems so happy he smiles at both ends!

Shoe (off to cook some dead chicken parts for supper; back later) :>)

Can spent coffee ground safely be thrown onto a rosebed? I have a pretty yellow rosebush that I'd love to propagate and boost up with some type of inexpensive additives. I can get spent coffee grinds by the bucketsful!

Gymgirl said:Can spent coffee ground safely be thrown onto a rosebed? I have a pretty yellow rosebush that I'd love to propagate and boost up with some type of inexpensive additives. I can get spent coffee grinds by the bucketsful!

As far as I know, the answer is yes.