Is coffee good for plants?

by Sylvie
(Herndon, Virginia)

QUESTION:

Is coffee good for plants? I don't like the idea of throwing away any kind of organic waste. But I want to be sure that it's OK to put coffee around plants.

ANSWER:

If you are talking about adding used coffee grinds to your garden or to your compost pile, the answer is yes.

Coffee grinds are high in nitrogen and make a great addition to the organic matter around your flowers or vegetables.

You can either sprinkle the coffee grinds directly onto the soil, or add them to your compost bin or pile.

If you add them directly to the soil, keep in mind that coffee is also acidic, so you may also want to add something alkaline, like brown leaves.

This is a great question, because we all throw away a huge volume of used coffee. It may not seem like much when you look at what's there are after brewing one pot, but when you consider how much you throw away during the course of a year, it's quite a lot.

If we all composted our coffee, it would make a considerable difference.