A gardener can never have too much compost. It seems every gardening book proclaims that just about every plant needs compost. This nutrient-dense stuff not only feeds the plants but is a mulch for water retention and weed control. Jon and I throw every possible scrap into our compost but the pile never seems to get large enough for all of our needs. One way to help bulk up the compost pile is to collect scraps from those who don't compost. One area that is often overlooked is our workplace. Jon collects coffee grounds at work and sprinkles the grounds around the blueberry bushes. I would consider coffee grounds a pretty easy item to collect, unlike banana peels and fruit pits and cores because there isn't the issue of fruit flies. The fruit flies wouldn't be a problem if the compost wasn't left for a few days but Jon isn't always there to collect it. The coffee grounds have been collected for about 6 months now and perhaps in the future we could find a way around the fruit flies and collect the other items. A perk to composting at work is that coworkers start asking questions about gardening, where their food comes from, and the importance of eating local. You never know what changes you will make by starting a compost system at work!.
Our blueberry plants really like the coffee grounds!
2 comments :
Sometimes when we visit a StarBucks coffee shop, they have a basket in the corner with free coffee grounds from the previous day's grind, all wrapped in a bag that you can take home for your garden.
We do that on occasion, and our garden smells like a coffee shop for a week. Love it!
Hi Chris,
Thanks for reminding me about Starbuck's "Grounds for Your Garden" program! My family collected their grounds when we lived in Portland and burlap bags (for the bee smoker) from a different local coffee shop. I hope more coffee shops catch on to these ideas.
Holly
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