{"id":12710,"date":"2015-06-30T16:12:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=12710"},"modified":"2015-06-30T17:41:23","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T16:41:23","slug":"how-to-use-coffee-grounds-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/how-to-use-coffee-grounds-in-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ever since I spotted a sign outside the Carlow Coffee Company offering gardeners free coffee grounds, the aromatic waste product has been on my mind. I\u2019ve heard people mention they’re good for keeping slugs and snails at bay, but can they be used for anything else? Will coffee grounds help to prevent our lettuces becoming lacy or keep our potatoes perfectly pert?<\/p>\n
After a bit of digging around, I\u2019ve found that yes, coffee grounds can be pretty useful in the garden, but we should take a bit of care and not throw them over the soil willy nilly. Here\u2019s why…<\/p>\n
Adjusting the soil pH is something we\u2019re going to have to consider at the School of Food in Kilkenny as the topsoil that was brought in is measuring just under a pH of 8 on my over the counter kit. This is great for alkaline loving plants such as asparagus which are happy growing in a high pH, but not so good for the potatoes which prefer a more acidic pH of 5.3 to 6.<\/p>\n
There are slightly conflicting views on just how acidic coffee grounds are as research shows the pH can vary depending upon studies. Linda Chalker-Scott from the Washington State University<\/a> reports that:<\/p>\n \u201cWhile two studies on coffee ground composting reported mildly acidic pHs of 4.6 and 5.26, others have measured neutral (7.7) to somewhat alkaline (8.4) pH levels. One researcher found that the pH of soil treated with coffee compost increased after 14 to 21 days of incubation, gradually decreasing thereafter.<\/p>\n Obviously the pH of decomposing coffee grounds is not stable and one shouldn\u2019t assume that it will always, or ever, be acidic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That pretty much answers that question.<\/p>\n\n