Your Old Coffee Pods Are The Secret To Creating A Flourishing Garden

Are you an avid coffee drinker? If so, don't throw your used pods in the trash — according to a genius TikTok hack, you can save them to grow seedlings. Even if you're not a coffee drinker, you can collect them for your next gardening adventure, asking friends and family to put them aside for you. Since an individual seed cell in a starter tray is usually 1.5 inches square with a depth of 2.25 inches, K-Cups make a perfect alternative. These coffee pods are about 2 inches across and 1.5 inches deep, so they're close enough in size. 

Although seed starter trays are reusable, they're made from plastic. Yes, K-Cups are made from plastic, too, but this way you'll be upcycling them in your garden. Since plastic can take as long as 500 years to decompose, you can help the environment — and your wallet –  by using an old K-Cup to start seeds. Here's what you need to know about this inventive gardening trick. 

You can use one K-Cup per seedling. According to @cowboyhippieofficial, all you need to do is add a second drainage hole to the bottom of your coffee pod (there should already be one in them from use). Then peel the foil back all the way so you can create a large enough hole for your seed. Ensure you don't dump out the coffee grounds, as they're beneficial for the soil and can help your seedlings get the required water and nutrients. Coffee grounds also add plenty of essential nitrogen, which promotes healthy growth and metabolism and is important for chlorophyll production.

Using your finger, create a hole in your coffee grounds and push in a seed. Next, cover it with your topsoil. In the TikTok video, @cowboyhippieofficial uses coco coir instead of topsoil. Coco coir comes from coconut fibers and absorbs water excellently. It's also renewable and works to encourage strong roots to grow. So if you're looking for an alternative to topsoil, give coco coir a try when carrying out this gardening hack.