Oh yes… I’m diving in! This is one of my first posts and I really hope you like it.
Few people don’t like coffee! We drink it at breakfast, after a copious meal or simply to relax. And why not add some of our favorite alcoholic beverage to it. A lot can also be said about its health benefits. But what I want to talk about today is coffee grounds because their multiple uses are unknown to most people.
We can do many things with coffee including cooking (https://bit.ly/9oQ1Rc), decoration or even coffee-ground reading just to name a few. But we can do so much more!
Everyday, you probably compost or throw away your coffee grounds without a second thought. But why not keep it aside for other useful uses like those I found below? After a bit or research and some trials, here are some of the advantages and uses I found for this little miracle ingredient that most of us throw away.
First of all, did you know that coffee grounds can be a great ally to gardeners? Or a fuel for the future? (https://bit.ly/eCOa)
In the following weeks, I’ll share some great little discoveries that can be made on a daily basis and that are free! As spring is at our door, I thought I’d start with this one:
Coffee and Gardening
No, I’m not talking about drinking your morning coffee in your backyard but about using coffee grounds as an all natural and organic fertilizer for your plants. Coffee grounds are rich in nutrients like potassium and nitrogen and make for great compost. Avoid costly chemical fertilizers that are harmful to the environment.
Coffee grounds will also keep away aphids, worms and slugs with its insect repelling properties. Use strong cold coffee to spray on the plants’ leaves and spread coffee grounds a the foot of the plant. Repeat this treatment every 4 to 5 days and see the results!
Coffee grounds also serve as a great fertilizer to roses and aromatic herbs. Their high potassium content fortifies the plants natural defenses and their insect repelling properties can keep snails away. Plants that prefer acid soil like rose bushes, azaleas or rhododendrons will greatly benefit from your morning beverage’s leftovers. Mix coffee grounds with your plants’ soil or simply place some on the ground around them and they will mix in with the soil. Coffee grounds help give soil the right organic composition as matters that generate humus are created during its bio-degradation. Just as your first morning coffee, this gives plants a little kick! 😉
Add coffee grounds to your house plants repotting soil for an increase in nutrients. You can also spread some on the soil’s surface and use a fork to scrape and push it into the soil, finishing it off with watering which will bring the nutrients to the plant’s roots. If you prefer to compost coffee grounds, they will degrade quickly and add their rich phosphates content to your compost.
Dried coffee grounds mixed in with seeds will also avoid localized surcharge of seeds. Furthermore, because of the grounds’ dark color, it will be easier for you to see the areas you already covered. Use Coffee grounds in your food garden where they will help seeds to germinate. Their smell will help repel flies and fight nematodes that attack plant roots. You can also use them as ants repellent around your house.
If you want to avoid your garden becoming your neighbors’ cats litter, spread some coffee grounds mixed with orange peels on the ground. This mix can repel even the most adventurous cats!!
That is it for this week! I hope to have informed you about the many uses of coffee grounds. Do not hesitate to comment (good or bad!) and share your own coffee grounds tricks.
Do not miss my next post where I will share some beauty tips you can achieve with ingredients readily available to all of us.
Until next time, gave a great week!