Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Zippy on June 18, 2010, 14:07
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I have found much on the internet about coffee grounds, about how places like Starbucks are only too pleased to get rid of the stuff and how gardeners are using it to good effect in compost piles, liquid feed and direct around plants as a slow release nitrogen source. Worms increase exponentially (in number not size!).
Our local Starbucks have a large tub with a sign saying “help yourself”.
I had always thought that coffee grounds could be too acidic in too high a volume and therefore toxic. Any thoughts? Does anyone else round up the coffee grounds from work and coffee shops and use it on their allotment?
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Being fortunate enough not to live anywhere near a star-yucks, I save ours from home and office all the year round and use mostly round courgettes, lettuces and assorted salad leaf type thingies as a slug deterrent. Have done so for a couple of years.
I am repeatedly assured that it doesnt work as a slug deterrent, so I must be continuing to use it for the worms or something and perhaps it is the extra worms that intimidate some of the slugs into staying away because I can tell the difference betwen coffee-dosed beds and non-coffee ones.
Or perhaps it is simply some bizarre horticultural placebo....
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OH collects them from work and I have used them this year as a base in the cold frames. It is noticeable that we have had fewer slugs than in previous years when it was just weed suppressant fabric on the bottom, and those that do appear, travel around the sides rather than over the base. The big slugs have completely left the cold frames alone .....
We also had slug damage on a few of the more tender courgettes - with centres being well chewed over night. Surrounded with 6" of grounds they have recovered nicely and are off again.
I dont know if it is the texture or the caffiene or what it is, but they dont like it and the plants are loving the protection! :D :D