Just like most people like coffee, there are a lot of plants that like coffee. Coffee is healthy for plants and ir can be used in different ways. Many experienced gardeners highly recommend using coffee in gardens. However, you should use it correctly and carefully otherwise it will be harmful to your plants. Therefore, in this article, we will show the best coffee uses in gardens that will enhance the health of your plants.
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Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds are perfect for growing veggies. They will slowly supply your vegetables with the nitrogen they need as well as keep soil pH levels low which will ameliorate the health and the growth of your plants. Besides, coffee grounds are effective in eliminating pathogenic worms, fungi, and parasites. Using coffee grounds is easy, all you need to do is to blend them with the top 8 inches of your garden soil.
2. Mulch
This is one of the best and the most popular uses of coffee in gardens. Many gardens use coffee grounds for mulching as it is believed it prevents weeds from growing as well as it keeps pests away. However, you should not use coffee grounds as mulch alone but rather you should mix them with organic mulches. Otherwise, they will dry your soil out of moisture which is harmful to your plants.
3. Coffee uses in gardens for carrots
Coffee grounds are known to enhance and boost the growth of carrots. If you are planting carrots and you wish to be rewarded with a heavy yield, you should mix your carrots’ seeds with coffee grounds. This will accelerate the germination of the seeds and keep away root maggots and insects. On top of that, coffee grounds contain nutrients that will ameliorate the quality of the soil when they decompose. For more information about coffee uses in gardens for carrots, visit Instructables. If you want to learn about growing carrots, you should read this article.
4. Fertilize Your Rose Bushes with Grind Coffee Beans
Since coffee is rich in nitrogen, it is capable of changing the soil pH levels to boost the flowering of flowers. Coffee is a natural fertilizer for flowers especially roses. If you have roses in your garden, you should definitely fertilize them with coffee.
6. Prevent Fungal Diseases
Due to its anti-fungal and acidic properties, coffee can prevent fungal diseases such as pathogenic fungi, including Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species.
7. Attract warms
Adding coffee grounds to composting piles will attract warms. Warms love feeding on coffee grounds, it is healthy and useful for them. Thus if you provide them with coffee grounds, they will provide your plants with nutrients.
8. Stain wood
9. Alter the Color of Your Blooms
Coffee grounds are able to low soil pH. Consequently, they will systematically boost the bloom of your plants especially if you are planting hydrangeas.
10. Keep Pets Away from Garden
Coffee has a strong scent that animals hate. If you want to keep away pets away from your garden, all you need to do is to spread some coffee grounds around your plants on the soil. It is fine if some coffee is spilled on your plants, it will not harm them but rather help them grow healthier.
11. Coffee Grounds in Compost
According to this recent report, coffee grounds are a great source of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper. They start releasing these minerals as soon as they start decomposing. They also encourage the growth of the plants in their area. Coffee ground and brow compost are a perfect combination for the growth of veggies.
12. Make A Foliar Spray
Making a foliar spray is among the best coffee uses in gardens. A foliar spray will prevent many potential pathogens. It has a strong smell that will keep invaders away. Besides, it quite easy to prepare and to use, just apply the following steps:
- Steep coffee grounds in water
- shake them well and then fill them in a spray bottle
- Spray the foliar spray on the leaves of your plants
13. Fertilize Acid-loving plants
All acid-loving plants whether they are flowers, herbs, or plants, thrive when you fertilize them with coffee grounds. However, make sure that you use only fresh coffee grounds. Fresh coffee grounds are able to raise the acidity of the soil whereas used coffee grounds will lower it.
14. Grow mushrooms
If you are looking for a way to grow mushrooms, coffee grounds are a perfect way. It is easy and effective. All it takes is a cardboard and some coffee grounds. The cardboard will serve as a shield against molds and bacteria and the coffee grounds will serve as a medium that will provide nutrients and minerals for the growth of your mushrooms.
15. Warming up the compost
One of the common problems that gardeners face is the failure of the compost to heat up to an adequate temperature degree. Coffee grounds are an excellent choice to solve this problem. They will ameliorate the quality of your compost making it good enough to eliminate weeds, vegetable seeds, and harmful pathogens. Researches point out that 20% of the compost should be coffee grounds in order to have a powerful rich compost.
16. Coffee is Good for Evergreen plants
Evergreen plants such as spruce, pine and magnolia love coffee grounds. They prefer slightly acidic soil which is something coffee grounds can help them obtain. Nonetheless, you should check your soil pH before adding coffee grounds because your soil may be already acidic enough
17. Coffee beans are perfect for heavy feeders
Heavy feeders such as tomatoes, squash, and peppers require a lot of nitrogen and coffee beans are extremely rich in nitrogen. Thus, they are perfect nutrients for these veggies and for all heavy feeders.
18. DIY a Gardener’s Soap
Coffee is also used to make soap. This soap is extremely strong and healthy as it does not contain any chemicals. Besides, it is easy to prepare. All you need is 1/3 cup of used coffee grounds and melted glycerin soap bar to make coffee’s soap.
These are the best coffee uses in gardens. These uses of coffee will help your plants grow, thrive, and produce a heavy yield. All these uses are already experimented by gardeners and warranted by studies and researches. Enjoy.