Coffee Grounds in the Garden?

[ZBQ]

Ok guys, you have me ready to start collecting coffee grounds form Starbucks but I have a couple of questions.

Everyone has said that the coffee grounds "attract" earthworms and this sounds great but I have one concern.

What about moles?

Will the abundance of earthworms "attract" moles to my raised beds? We have a fairly bad mole problem around here and that would be the last thing I would need is to have my tomato beds assaulted by those nasty little things!! The deer are bad enough!!

Also, Monday I am going to be in Columbus and there are a bunch of Starbucks there and I was thinking of hitting quite a few since I don't get there very often.

How much UCG do you think I could put in my beds that overall measure 50X3 feet without harm prior to my spring tilling? Then till them in. Is it possible to add too much at once?

Last fall I spread about 50# of alfalfa pellets over the same area and let it lay over winter and I have about 7 or 8 buckets of rabbit poop that has set over the winter (in the buckets)that I was going to till in as well. Do you think all of these would be too much?

[mresseguie]

Hi, ZBQ.

I haven't suffered with moles, so I'll pass......Unless, of course, you want to remove all the soil in your beds; lay down hardware cloth, and replace all the soil back. [Didn't think so.]

Two years ago when I started going hog wild for coffee grounds, I worried about the same thing-How much is too much? Well, after hundreds of pounds being added to my beds (fewer sq. ft. than yours), I have not hit that 'too much' level. I also mulch my blueberries, fruit trees, roses, rhodies, bamboo, and annuals with grounds. I use the grounds in my compost piles, too.

At the rate things are going, my beds will be half coffee grounds and half llama pellets by the end of this year. I expect to have bumper crop years starting with this year.

Have fun!

Michael

8)

[dcarch]

Just a question:

First, I have been composting coffee grounds for many years. Having read many opinions about coffee grounds here and else where, a question comes to my mind:

The coffee beans have been roasted and ground and brewed thru hot water and you ended up with a nice cup of coffee? Well, what is in the coffee?

I am wondering, while coffee ground is good in supplementing the soil, it may be lacking in many water-soluble nutrients which have been leeched out in your cup of coffee.

(I have been staying up nights thinking about this ).

dcarch

[velikipop]

ZBQ,

I don't think coffee grounds or too rich of a soil attracts moles. From what I understand they go after the grubs in the soil, don't know about worms!! Even if you do get moles they will not harm your tomato roots. I've had them in my patch every year without harm. Simply, press the mole mound back down or put your hose down the hole and give them a cold bath before tamping it down.

Alex

[mresseguie]

Originally Posted by dcarch

Just a question:

First, I have been composting coffee grounds for many years. Having read many opinions about coffee grounds here and else where, a question comes to my mind:

The coffee beans have been roasted and ground and brewed thru hot water and you ended up with a nice cup of coffee? Well, what is in the coffee?

I am wondering, while coffee ground is good in supplementing the soil, it may be lacking in many water-soluble nutrients which have been leeched out in your cup of coffee.

(I have been staying up nights thinking about this ).

dcarch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, this sounds like a good time to remind everyone that urine is a wonderful source of nitrogen. Perhaps we should make an extra effort to recycle that coffee?

[sirtanon]

Funny you should mention that, Michael. My wife has told me that her father used to go out in their backyard and pee near the base of their lemon trees at night. Apparently, it's both a good source of nitrogen AND helps lower the pH somewhat, which the trees love.

She keeps telling me to do the same for OUR lemon tree

[garnetmoth]

i havent been to starbux recently, but our local place doesnt bag individually! I get the whole double-bagged garbage can full.

and if im lucky, the lovely young man there offers to carry it out (im tough, I dont need the help, but I appreciate it :-)

[sirtanon]

Actually, the first time I ever collected grounds from my local, they gave me a half-full double bagged garbage bag. Talk about jackpot! I've actually nearly used the whole thing already. No worries though, as I've already picked up another bag, and plan to get a couple more on my way home today

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by sirtanon

-------She keeps telling me to do the same for OUR lemon tree

Grounds for divorce?

dcarch

[tomatoaddict]

I called my local Starbucks today about the Grounds for Garden program and they said it was going to start the 1st of May in my area Zone 5. The girl on the phone said that if I wanted, to call any morning and ask them to save a days worth of grounds for me. Then I can just go pick them up.
I thought that was really nice. So today they are saving them for me.

[mayax68]

I bet it would also be great as mulch under a kiddie playground!

[sirtanon]

Just an update on the side-by-side experiment.

The plant in the 90% coffee soil is not doing well at all. Not sure if my wife neglected to water it for an entire day, or if the soil just solidified too much to allow water through. I suppose wet coffee can do that.

In any case, I've placed in a resevoir and it seems to have soaked up plenty of water, so we'll see.

The other plant is doing well though. Will take pics in a day or so.

[mresseguie]

Originally Posted by mayax68

I bet it would also be great as mulch under a kiddie playground!

It's important that children be well grounded......

[ZBQ]

I bet mommy wouldn't be too happy trying to get coffee stains out of the kids clothes from the mulch on the playground.

[mayax68]

Ok, changed my mind on the grounds for mulch .

But I have been collecting used ground coffee at my work and dumping in under my berry bushes. I should see benefits this coming spring.