Before we do our everyday routine, the first thing we do when we wake up is to brew a fresh pot of coffee, and most of the time we end up to have dumped a lot of coffee grounds in the trash. But did you know that you can do more with our coffee grounds than just putting directly in the bin? Like you can make a coffee scrub, and if you have a green thumb, you can make them coffee fertilizers for your plants.
Coffee grounds have a lot of uses in your garden from fertilizer to keeping away pesky bugs from your plants. Here are five gardening hacks you can do using the coffee fertilizer with your flowering plants.
Compost Boost
A secret to a healthy beautiful plant is by adding your coffee grounds to your compost. So, instead of tossing your coffee grounds on your trash bins add them to your compost pile. Coffee is a natural fertilizer when, composted it increases nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and copper levels in the soil.
Nite: Don’t get too excited when adding coffee grounds to your compost pile. Coffee can raise acidity that leads to negating many of its benefits. So try to keep your coffee grounds to roughly 25 percent of the pile or less.
Whats more is you can even add your coffee filters without separating the coffee grounds because coffee filters are biodegradable and can go straight into the compost, too.
Lower pH levels
Some plants like Azaleas, gardenias, carrots, strawberries and many other plants like extra acidity ad they flourish in acidic soil. For this kind of plants, you can add a small amount of grounds to the soil while planting. The coffee can help the germination process and promote healthy growth.
Altering the pH level of the soil can also change the flower color in plants like hydrangeas.
Pest Deterrent
Caffeine is a natural pesticide that can paralyze and kill insects. So, if you are having a problem with pest attacking your plants, you can sprinkle the coffee grounds around the flower bed or garden to keep unwanted pests out.
Coffee will help keep destructive slugs and snails at bay. But it can also help control mosquitoes, bees, wasps and you can even sprinkle it around ant hills.
Attract worms
Sprinkling coffee grounds around the plant beds keep unwanted pest out, on the other hand, coffee grounds can also attract worms. That is why when you add coffee grounds to your compost pile it attracts worms, that can help speed up the decomposition process.
You may also mix the coffee grounds directly in the soil, be careful not to overdo it. The coffee grounds will help draw in earthworms, which increase the amount of air and water in the soil.
Flower pot liner
If you are having trouble with soil escaping to your pots, one solution there is to put coffee filters in the bottom of the flower pot to prevent the soil from escaping when you water the plant.
The next time you brew your coffee before putting all the waste in the trash bin be sure to save up some coffee grounds for your gardening needs.
