Coffee in the Garden

In today’s climate, we are all looking for ways to live more sustainably and be kinder to our planet. Have you ever thought about reducing your waste, by reusing your waste? Many things that we throw away in our day to day lives can actually be repurposed, starting with your morning cup of coffee.

Reusing old coffee grounds in your garden and houseplants is a great way to make practical use of something that would otherwise be thrown away. Not only giving your green space a pick me up, but also helping you to think and act cleaner and greener.

We get through our fair share of coffee here at the Willow Alexander HQ, and meticulously reutilize all of our waste. We carefully empty the coffee from each of our used pods, responsibly recycle the remaining packing, and save the contents for later use in our plant nursery. This is not only a sustainable, and cost-effective fertilization solution, but it gives our plants the best start to life!

Why?

Coffee grounds have a long list of uses and benefits for your plants and garden, but most notably they are an excellent addition to your compost pile and can also act as a great sustainable and natural fertilizer.

Composting with coffee grounds helps to add nitrogen to your compost and encourage the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. On the other hand, using coffee waste directly on your plants as a fertilizer adds organic material to the soil which aids drainage, water retention and aeration in the soil, as well as encouraging plant growth.

How?

Composting your coffee is as easy as just adding your used grounds and filters straight onto your compost pile. However, remember that despite its colour, coffee is considered “green compost material”, so make sure to balance it with the appropriate amount of brown compost material too.

Alternatively, to fertilize your plants directly, rinse your used coffee grounds to neutralize the pH and then work it in around your plants. It’s too easy not to give it a go!

Other Uses and Extra Tips.

Coffee waste has many more benefits to your garden than just helping your compost and soil. Used coffee grounds can also be used as mulch to assist moisture retention and help control weeds, as a natural slug, snail and cat repellent, or as worm food!

Fresh coffee is naturally acidic, which can also be a great fertilizer for acid loving plants such as hydrangeas, azaleas, gardenias and rhododendrons. But use with care as not all plants respond well to the acidity. We recommend researching the needs of individual plants before exposing them to fresh coffee, or if you aren’t sure, only use rinsed and used coffee grounds as they won’t influence the soils pH.

If you don’t use ground coffee or coffee pods yourself, you will often find local cafés and coffee shops recycling theirs to customers. If they aren’t advertising – just ask! Any good barista will know that their used grounds are a gardeners gold-dust.