On Mon, 6 Jun 2005, Anthony Ward wrote:

The canteen at my workplace is trying to improve its recycling
statistics and so is bagging up the used coffee grounds from the
machine and offering this to customers for their garden compost bins.
A colleague has said this is not a good idea because the grounds are
too acidic. I would appreciate knowing the thoughts of experienced
gardeners on this please. I am not particularly wanting to grow
acid-loving plants.
I have also heard that one should not add citrus peel to the compost
bin for the same reason. Does the group agree?


Not necessarily. It probably depends on what you are growing. I have
nearly 100% clay where I am gardening. I tried (for laughs) mixing
1/3 local clay soil that weeds were previously growing on, 1/3
vermiculite, and 1/3 coffee grinds. I planted tomatillos and tomato
seeds into this (about 100 plants), from fresh, dried seeds. This
was placed under incandescent 60 Watt light bulbs to give light and
temperature around 30 C. Growability was almost 100% percent, and
they sprouted and grew at prolific rate. If this is tried in a sealed
container, like a portably greenhouse, I got some mold, but even after
getting really moldy and removing the cover, the soil just dried up,
the mold went away and the plants were in fact growing very happily.
Many were planted in May and are now about ready to move to my
greenhouse (required since I live in Sweden). Yes, coffee is terrific
fopr me since there is so much of it here....

Dominic