Using Coffee grounds

[Feral007]

Isn't the advice to wrap your peelings and food scraps in paper, that way you're putting both in at the same time. I'm not that organised yet myself.

[Two_Sheds]

You just need a pile of old newspapers next to your kitchen compost caddy: sorted

[Nightshade]

I have used hundreds of sack loads of coffee grounds all around my garden for the last few years. My veg beds are currently covered in about a 4 inch thick layer. I get the coffee grounds by the sack load from the local Starbucks (Sacks so heavy I can only just about lift them.) No one else seems to want them. Starbucks save them for me as long as I take them every two days as they have no storage room for them. (So it's an all or nothing situation)

They are great I use them everywhere including several compost bins and four worm bins. I even spread thin layers on the grass. No problems at all. My veg love them and what the coffee grounds have done to the soil is great and the number of worms in the garden is unbelievable. There are worms everywhere.

[Two_Sheds]

^ have you tried mixing it with potting compost? It's pretty good for that, too, bulking it out. Don't use too much though: I've tried it at 25%, 50% and 100%

The seedlings grown in 100% coffee grounds start off UK, then stall, then turn yellow, then die

[judy2shoes]

Hi Kitty - I have just discovered white worms in my raised beds. They are just like ordinary earth worms but just shorter and paler. should I worry?

[Two_Sheds]

I have just discovered white worms in my raised beds.

I've answered you on a different post you made, asking the same thing. Enchytraeus albidus, they're an important member of the complex web of soil life

[dandalady]

asked in costa yesterday for grounds but they have to send all theirs back. they are picked up. how mean wonder what they do with them

[veggiechicken]

Probably sell them to a company that produces compost

[Nightshade]

I now collect all the used coffee grounds from two Starbuck's coffee shops. About two heavy sack loads a day. Their main requirement is that they are collected every day or every second day at the latest. They don't like collection in dribs and drabs they want a regular reliable collection schedule.

Starbuck's are the easiest to deal with as recycling the coffee grounds is part of their company policy. There is a McDonalds beside one of the Starbucks with a McCafe and they have plenty of coffee grounds as well. I asked a member of staff for the used coffee grounds and he said I would have to talk to the manager who will be back next week. So I will talk to the manager next week when he is back and point out that I will save the company money in collection charges as coffee grounds are very heavy and disposal costly.

To be fair some establishments are a bit wary of giving away stuff as if any of their waste (Coffee grounds or cardboard etc...) is dumped and traced back to them they are liable to a fine and the cost of clear up so some places just refuse. It is good to prepare your application in advance that the coffee grounds will be of great benefit to your garden and saving the company disposal charges etc...(Don't mention dumping unless brought up my management)

[tumbling tom]

After the first hundred days of sack fulls what do you do with all these grounds?

[JustPotteringAbout]

I get a 12-20kg sack every day from the coffee shop at college after gym. The half hour walk home with the waste sack in my rucksack is a bonus workout.
I put it as a top dressing on brassicaceae and around Ericales and have started mixing it in
I'll monitor apparent effects on the Anecic worm (vertical soil dwellers) populations, it should in fact be easier to see the wormholes.
Not much reduction in gastropods from limited and casual observations.

[rustylady]

I get a 12-20kg sack every day from the coffee shop at college after gym. The half hour walk home with the waste sack in my rucksack is a bonus workout.
I put it as a top dressing on brassicaceae and around Ericales and have started mixing it in
I'll monitor apparent effects on the Anecic worm (vertical soil dwellers) populations, it should in fact be easier to see the wormholes.
Not much reduction in gastropods from limited and casual observations.

By 'eck - you use a lot of big words, don't you?

[Nightshade]

To answer your question Tumbling Tom ..... At first sight all the Coffee grounds I collect would seem like a lot. All the coffee ground from two Starbucks and a McCafe.

However I spread them over the whole garden including veg beds and greenhouse and even a thin layer on the grass area. I have a fairly big rear garden about 20 metres by 10 metres. Then there is the front garden grass and hedge all heavily mulched with coffee grounds. By the time I do the rounds the start will need more as the coffee grounds will have broken down. There are worms everywhere and I mean huge numbers.

Then there is a friends garden that I also spread the coffee grounds.

Then there are other gardening friends who want the coffee grounds but who unlike myself cannot guarantee regular collection.

I can never have too many coffee grounds!!

[ryanlmharris84]

coffee grounds, good or bad?

I've heard mixed things said about the suitability of coffee grounds for gardens in terms of the nutrient content and effect on plant growth.

I drink a large quantity of the stuff whilst out and about as being in sales, I'm up and down the motorway all week and consequently a regular visitor of Starbucks.

They provide grounds from their machines free of charge with the tag line 'free for your garden'.

Is it worth filling my boots?

[veggiechicken]

Several previous threads about them.- Now Merged on this thread!

This may interest you too! http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...els_70338.html