Recycling and environmentally friendly programs have enjoyed significant popularity in recent years, as we gain better understanding of how our activity and decisions affect the Earth. In our desire to clean up our habits and leave a beautiful planet for our children, we strive to reuse or repurpose many things that we used to throw away. Coffee grounds are a great example of something that has many uses after your pot of coffee is brewed. Here are four ways to use your old grounds in the garden.
- Fertilizer
If you have plants in your garden that enjoy soil acidity, they will thrive when you add coffee grounds to your topsoil. Some examples of plants that will appreciate this treatment are azaleas, hydrangeas, and roses. Others, like tomatoes, will not react positively to this type of fertilizer. The nitrogen in coffee grounds can give certain plants a great boost. Coffee grounds also release calcium, potassium, and magnesium into the ground when you sprinkle them around your plants. The higher acidity can also help you raise hydrangeas in a beautiful blue shade. - Compost
Even the filter can be added to your compost pile, so save it from the landfill. When you add lye to your coffee grounds, it becomes and effective composting agent that attracts worms. - Insect Repellant
While you may enjoy the aroma of coffee, most insects feel quite differently. The distinctive odor of coffee grounds is unattractive to mosquitoes, so sprinkle them near outdoor areas where people gather. You can also repel bugs like ants and slugs from your garden by creating a border of coffee grounds. Cockroaches, on the other hand, like the smell of coffee as much as we do, so you can create a trap with grounds at the bottom of a can and double sided tape covering the walls. - Pet Repellant
If you have a cat or dog that is causing chaos in your garden, the smell of coffee grounds may turn them away. With their more sensitive sense of smell, the scent emitted by a small amount of coffee grounds may keep them at bay. Cats also dislike the smell of citrus fruits, such as lemon and orange. When you combine your used coffee grounds with orange peels or lemon juice, one sniff will send them running to do their business elsewhere.
