Using Coffee Grounds in Your Garden

Earth Day is here and the question of “what should I do with my grounds after I drink my coffee” is on everyone’s mind. After drinking the best cup of coffee on the planet, what can you do with the grounds to help save our planet a little? We have some fun ways to use them in your garden this year! We not only have ways to use your grounds, but the we produce from our roasting process can also be used. Keep reading to find out more...

Fertilize: After enjoying your favorite brew, you can spread coffee grounds in your flower beds to help them flourish or use them as compost. The grounds release nitrogen as they degrade which makes for very rich compost!

Help Seedlings Succeed: Grounds can also be very beneficial to your young seedlings to help them get a great start before transplant. The coffee grounds add organic material to the soil, which improves drainage, water retention and aeration in the soil, helping them grow.

Keep Away Pests: To keep pests away, you need to let your used grounds dry out completely. You can actually take some aluminum foil, form it to a bowl shape, add in the dry grounds along with a few drops of lighter fluid and light them on fire. You are essentially burning them like you would incense. The smell of the burning grounds and the smoke will keep pests away from your plants!

Using Chaff to Garden: Chaff is a by-product of coffee being roasted. When beans are roasted at a high temperature, they lose their dry outer layer of “skin” that is called chaff. At Door County Coffee, we collect the chaff and local farmers use it to fertilize their gardens and fields. Chaff can be mixed in with soil or compost and be added to plants to help them thrive!

Change the Color: One of the most fun things about adding coffee to your plants is that the used grounds add more acid to the soil and if you place them around Hydrangeas, your pink or white ones can change to blue!

We love coffee, and we love that we have so many uses for grounds after we enjoy them to help plants and Mother Earth! We hope you found at least one way to use up those old coffee grounds! Happy Earth Day, Coffee Lovers!