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The Most Common Mistake Gardeners Make With Coffee Grounds
By AMIRA GUNDEL
Given coffee’s popularity as a drink, the trend of using composted coffee grounds in the garden has become fashionable. Sadly, misusing them can lead to damaging your plants.
One rookie mistake that’s made when using coffee grounds for your plants is not brewing them first. Brewed grounds are neutral in pH, as opposed to the acidity in unbrewed coffee.
Sonia Uyterhoeven of New Jersey’s Greenwood Gardens explains that any acidity gets washed out during the brewing process, so brewed coffee shouldn’t affect your garden’s pH.
Another thing to consider is that coffee grounds alone are not enough to keep your garden healthy. Use it alongside grass clippings, alfalfa meal, or other nitrogen fertilizer.
To use brewed coffee grounds as a supplement directly in the garden, work ½ an inch of them at a depth of 4 inches, being careful to not overdo it, which can lead to slow growth.