New here and a coffee ground question...

Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:01 am

HI! My name is Val and I am an avid gardener. I am really excited to be here as I have ended many a google search on the finer details of gardening right here for my answer. So I decided it was time I joined in.

I do have a question. I live in Western WA, the height of coffee USA capital... and I was wondering if there is a list of perennials that like coffee grounds and weather or not my perennial herb garden would benifit from a dumptruck load or two (jk... more like a 50 lb bag or so)... I have green and purple sage, savory, 5 kinds of mint, lemon balm, daliahs, bergamont (sp?), lovage, oregano, both kinds of chives, salad burnette, Pineapple sage, rosemary, echinacea, and quite a few kinds of self seeding non-invasive flowers (borage, violets, etc...).

I have another bed in which I have lillies, peonies, and a couple hydrangeas... what about this bed?

What do you think? I don't drink coffee but I feel like I have a gold mine at my disposal (the Starbucks up the street gave me two HUGE bags this morning for my worms and my composting pile while I was getting a Chai... lol...) and want to use it, but am afraid of burning something. These are all in a simi shade area. And being in western WA we have gotten over 90* twice yet this summer and most days are in the 70*'s and cloudy. So I don't think it will be an issue of soil heat.

Raspberries and blueberries as well... when do I top dress them with this stuff?

I am very happy to be here and thank you in advance for any help you could give me with this issue.

Val

Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:24 pm

Hello, Val. While your raspberries & blueberries would enjoy the acidity of the coffee grounds, I think you'd be better off adding those grounds to your compost and/or your worm bins. Give the decomposition process a chance to neutralize some of the grounds' acidity so they will benefit all of the plants in your garden.

How lucky you are to have such a treasure trove of grounds at your disposal!

Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:22 am

Slugs and such don't like crawling over coffee grounds, I sprinkle them around (liberally) my hostas and the like. Works kinda like a mulch, too. Something about the caffeine they don't like. And some decaf is done with chemicals that could leach into the soil, so be careful not to get decaf grounds.

Happy gardening.
Wing