Several years ago, Starbucks started offering their leftover coffee grounds to people to take home and use for composting. For the gardener, it is a way to enrich their soil. Starbucks stores offer the used coffee grounds, free, to anyone that comes in and wants them. They even package it up in recycled bags. I am thankful that this program is promoting waste-reduction and allowing these grounds to be reused in such a meaningful way.
Today, Maddie, Kalen & I went out and spread the grounds at the soil level of various plants and sprinkled it in our compost.
As sited on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website:
Tips for Composting Coffee Grounds:
* Mix grounds with soil around acid-loving plants and watch them flourish.
* Add brown leaves and grass clippings to mulch to help balance the pH of the soil.
* Mix grounds into compost to accelerate the composting process.
* Grounds should not be more than 25 percent of any compost pile. To counteract the acidity of coffee grounds, add one teaspoon of lime or wood for each five pounds of coffee grounds in your compost.
* Help a worm bin flourish by feeding worms with coffee grounds combined with brown materials.
* Mix grounds with soil around acid-loving plants and watch them flourish.
* Add brown leaves and grass clippings to mulch to help balance the pH of the soil.
* Mix grounds into compost to accelerate the composting process.
* Grounds should not be more than 25 percent of any compost pile. To counteract the acidity of coffee grounds, add one teaspoon of lime or wood for each five pounds of coffee grounds in your compost.
* Help a worm bin flourish by feeding worms with coffee grounds combined with brown materials.
5 comments:
My neighbor has been doing this for a long time. I did not know that Starbucks provides you with the bags though. He keeps large storage bins with his name, etc...on it at the store and picks up the full bins weekly. Great information! I must admit - the title of this entry REALLY caught my eye! :)
I've really wanted to try composting, but one thing has deterred me: odor. I've read that the site can sometimes produce a bad smell. We live in very close proximity to about 10 other families, so that would create a problem. Have you found this to be true?
Sure, there is a smell. It goes and comes. It bothers me sometimes, but never Scott or the kids.
Ask around and see what others think. Chances are, you aren't the only neighbor that is considering it.
I didn't realize that Starbucks did this. Wonderful! We have a homemade compost bin and Brice being the third shifter supplies it with plenty of coffe grounds. However I never knew that you could put the actual grounds around your plants...Great info, thanks!
great stuff!! Did Maddie take the pics? If so, she did a great job!
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