Coffee Grounds In the Garden

STOP!!!!!!

Wait........don't throw out those coffee grounds! 

Coffee Grounds Can Perk Up Your Garden
By Simone Abt

(NC)—Canadian gardeners are discovering that coffee grounds offer a valuable
source of nutrition for gardens.
Coffee grounds can be used in several ways. Grounds can be applied along with
other materials as a side dressing for vegetables, roses, and other plants. They
also make an excellent addition to the compost. Grounds can also help with worm
bins. Worms fed with coffee grounds will flourish.
Gardeners can use grounds from their home coffee brewing machines, or they can
stop by Starbucks to pick up a bag of complimentary coffee grounds. Starbucks
offers spent grounds to customers year-round for use in gardens and compost
bins.
"Coffee grounds can be a valuable source of nutrition for the garden," says Ben
Packard, director of Environmental Affairs for Starbucks. "Reusing coffee
grounds in the garden year-round is a great way to avoid disposing of this rich
resource from our stores."

According to The Composting Council of Canada, composting not only helps to
reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, it produces a valuable soil
amendment that can improve the texture and fertility of the soil.
Compost is the single most important ingredient for soil quality and
productivity.

Some gardeners even use the grounds to help ward off slugs and snails. The
grounds can be used to mulch plants that slugs love to feast on, such as hostas,
ligularias and lilies.

Coffee grounds can be applied directly to a garden's acid loving plants such as
azaleas, roses or hydrangeas. While coffee grounds may be acidic, adding leaves
and dried grass can reduce this acidity. Your local gardening expert can help
you decide what is best for your garden.

For more information visit www.starbucks. com
- News Canada