"The Cat Whisperer" wrote in message
...
Would grinds be good for my tomato plants??



"Compostman" wrote in message
...

"cloud dreamer" wrote in message
...
James wrote:

A local coffee house gives away free used grinds. How should I used
them?



From what I've read, you can add it to the garden or compost heap. They
apparently add nitrogen, so I wouldn't use them directly on vegetables,
but I would use them on my flowers - especially the acid loving ones. I
read one comment somewhere that slugs don't like coffee grinds but
worms
do....a perfect match.

I collect about 15 pounds of coffee grounds per day from the Starbucks 3
blocks away. I compost most of it, but also through it on the flower
beds. Coffee grounds are close to pH neutral (the acid in coffee is very
solvent and goes in the drink). They contain nitrogen, but not enough
to
cause any hard, but enough so that you don't have to worry about the
grounds robbing your soil of nitrogen while it decomposes.

Also, it makes the yard smell interesting.

they are great in compost as they heat up quickly and are very fine which
helps for quick breakdown. Treat them like grass clippings when mixing in
and adding carbon and you should be fine.

Used grounds have a NPK around 3-1-2 according to test results I have seen
(though different claims are made) so this should be a rough guide if you
use them as a fertiliser if you want to be particular about applying them to
plants. I use them on my lawn as a fertiliser and apply them by ratio as for
other organic manure based fertilisers (eg if the lawn fertiliser is 6-2-4
then I would use double the amount of coffee grounds on the application or
apply 2 feeds as opposed to one for the 6-2-4). Best dry them first to stop
clumping together.

They can be spread directly on fallow beds to provide some nutrition and
organic matter to the soil. I have some raised gardens I have built up for
planting veges late in spring. I have sprinkled coffee grounds on them to be
slowly worked in to the soil. I haven't used any direct measure, just
applied from time to time as the grounds break down. I also apply them as a
thin mulch/fertiliser over existing beds and will add from time to time as
they decay. I apply a layer roughly no more than 2-3 cms. As they decay
fairly slowly they act as a slow release fertiliser so the chances of giving
your plants an unsustainable concentrated hit of nutrients is minimised. It
will also encourage worms to come visiting and build up your soil structure
if it is lacking.

I also use coffee grounds as a mulch with saw dust or prunings under hedges
or around trees to kill off weeds and grass. With the saw dust I reckon 2-3
times the smount of coffee grounds as per saw dust should minimise the saw
dust leaching nitrogen from your soil.

There must be a million uses round the garden and the grounds come free. The
ph neutral bit is comforting as I read something recently which said they
were acidic. If in doubt I guess throw them through a simple ph test and see
what the results are.

rob