I had the pleasure of writing a blog piece for the awesome Epic Gardening blog at the end of October (How to Compost with Coffee Grounds). Did you know that coffee grounds are great for your garden and add loads of lovely organic matter to your soil? They also have other uses in your garden such as slug and snail repellents or mulch around plants. No need to feel guilty about your coffee habit… your garden will love it!
Below are a few points about composting with coffee grounds from the blog piece. The full article is available here.
Can I add coffee grounds to my bokashi bucket?
Yes! Definitely! Adding coffee grounds is simple. Add the coffee grounds (and coffee filters) along with all of your other food waste once every day or two and sprinkle on some Bokashi Living compost accelerator (bran). Continue to fill your kitchen composter in the usual way. Enjoy great homemade compost in just 4-6 weeks.
But aren’t coffee grounds acidic?
Many gardeners are concerned that coffee grounds are acidic. However, studies have shown that much of this acidity is soluble and will therefore end up in your cup of coffee. The used coffee grounds are fine to be added to your garden without altering the pH. However, if you are expecting to add very large quantities of coffee grounds to your garden (more than 25% volume) you may start to see changes in the acidity of your soil… but that is a lot of coffee, even in a small garden!
Where can I get more coffee grounds?
Don’t just stop with the coffee grounds produced in your own home. There are lots more sources of used coffee grounds that people are often very happy to give you for free. Coffee shops and restaurants are a great source of free coffee grounds. Starbucks are probably best known for this having introduced their Grounds for your Garden program in 1995 offering free bags of used coffee grounds to their customers. But just ask in any coffee shop and they are often more than happy to give you their used coffee grounds.
Why not add a can by your office coffee machine and collect those too?
More uses for coffee grounds around your house
Did you know that coffee grounds can also be useful around your house? Freshening flower vases, stuffing pin cushions, to freshen your fridge, and to make dirt play-dough for your children.
Read the full Epic Gardening article here
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I just purchased my second bokashi compost bucket. Very excited. I understand about draining the tea from the bottom of the bucket and dilluting it and using it in the garden. But I was wondering if before I bury the fermented food scrapes if I could put some in a five gallon bucket of rain water and make a tea and if so how nutritious would that be?
Glad to hear you are excited about expanding your bokashi composting. We would not recommend adding the fermented food waste to rain water as excess water can cause the fermentation to go bad. The best way of getting the beneficial microbes into your garden is to bury the fermented food waste directly in your soil or in your compost pile. As you are already doing, the best way to get more of the beneficial bokashi tea is to increase the number of bokashi buckets you are using. Maybe find friends and neighbors who are willing to donate their food waste too!
Happy composting 🙂
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