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OROZCONLECHE
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Coffee Grounds???

So I Seen A big bag of coffee grounds at some guys Gigantic Garden, So I Thought It Might Be Good as a Fertelizer or Mix for Compose, Is It? or Not, and if iT is How Much should I Put? My Sister Throws Away tons and Tons of Coffee Grounds every day!

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rainbowgardener
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It is a good source of nitrogen for the compost pile and helps give the compost a nice, fine texture. It is not as good for putting directly on plants, as it can tend to crust over and prevent water from getting through. You can mix a small amount into your soil.

I don't know how much "tons and tons" is, but remember you always want your compost pile to stay balanced between browns and greens (we need better terms, despite the color, coffee grounds being nitrogenous are a "green") and in general not much more than 10% any one ingredient.

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OROZCONLECHE
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4 Table Spoons of Coffee Grounds is about what she uses daily so can I add all That too the top of my garden ?

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rainbowgardener
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No, that's what I said about don't put it on top of the soil, it crusts over. You could easily put that much in your compost pile and you could mix that much into your soil, if you spread it around a fair sized garden.

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TexRx
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I always put coffee grounds in my compost But.....You can skip the compost pile and mix the coffee grounds in with some store bought compost and then apply if you must

I would use somewhere between 35% and 50% pecent grounds

:)

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OROZCONLECHE
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50% sounds like a lot but soil is cheap so ill give it a try

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rainbowgardener
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well if you decide you like using the coffee grounds, you can get buckets of them free for the asking from places like Starbucks.

john gault
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OROZCONLECHE wrote:50% sounds like a lot but soil is cheap so ill give it a try
Do you have a compost pile? Whatever you do don't let it go to waste in normal trash disposal, just throwing it in a nondescript area of the yard would be better than throwing in the trash.

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gixxerific
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RBG I disagree. I do not belive that coffee grounds crust over. I just went out and checked to make sure. I throw mine out every day (4 tbl at a time). They are all loose as can be. Except for the frozen ones, it is 31 this morning.

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OROZCONLECHE
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I am making compost but its taking a while I want to put the coffee grounds on my garden, so maybe ill try that and if makes crusts ill remove most of it

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!potatoes!
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you can always just work it into the the top few inches of soil.

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OROZCONLECHE
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Yea thats my plan, but not too far in deep just enough as I planted an assortment of flowers from seeds and they are just coming up, also I'm going to move so don't want to do too much to the garden as I'm going to leave it there.

SOB
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4TBSP a day is not that much. I have on a few occasions frequented starbucks to get their grounds and was receiving about 3-4lb bags of grounds (including biodegratable filters). I would put 2-3 full bags on top of my small garden each week with no issues. It would be enough for an even layer on the entire garden. Yes, it may get a little crusty but it wouldnt cause any problems. The soil the next year was phenominal!

Now, this was before my compost pile and when I get grounds now, which is not as regularly, I add them to the compost.

If all your putting on is 4TBSP a day and spreading it throughout your garden I don't see any issues.

tomc
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A *lot* is relative. For me 4 tablespoons is barely a taste to side dress tomato plants with. Fer me, a lot is by the pick up truck load. I'm sure for the next guy a lot is dumped off by a 12 wheel dumper...

if there is any universalism in my post, its for the first few years *a lot* is never enough. it never cooks out fast enough. There is a lot of hurry-up and waiting around.

The consolation in this sermon is: this too will pass.

john gault
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OROZCONLECHE wrote:I am making compost but its taking a while I want to put the coffee grounds on my garden, so maybe ill try that and if makes crusts ill remove most of it
Should be alright if you just spread it out vice pile it up. If you want to speed up the process of mixing with soil, then water it and the water will mix it with the soil, provided the coffee is laid out as a sheet, so to speak, vs. just a simple pile. I don't see a reason to dig it in the soil.



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