[Laura]

having read somewhere that coffee was a good soil improver i got in touch with Starbucks.  this is the reply:

"Dear Ms Huntley
Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

We welcome your interest in our 'Grounds for your Garden' scheme. Using coffee grounds in compost is proving increasingly popular and to encourage this practice, our waste coffee grounds are now available to gardeners.
If your local store does not already offer pre-packed waste coffee grounds, please ask at the counter and the barista will be happy to assist you.  
We appreciate you getting in touch and look forward to welcoming you into your local store.  
Yours sincerely
Clare Ollerhead
Customer Care Specialist"

now i don't buy Starbucks coffee as i only drink Fairtrade however i'm sure it'll be morally acceptable to put it on the plot!!!
I rang my local Starbucks this morning and they were ever so nice and said they had a fair whack of grounds ready to bag up.  i'm off there this afternoon to pick it up, hopefully i'll have enough to share with my neighbours (depending on how much i can carry on the bus of course)
get in touch with them because not only is it useful recycling best of all it's FREE

[WG.]

Supposedly a slug deterent too!

[wellingtons]

... but I'm fairly certain that I read somewhere that Starbucks are one of the biggest buyers of FairTrade coffee.  Now whether that's to sell in their stores or make into coffee to sell I've no idea.

And I do know that even when they buy outside of the FairTrade suppliers, they do make a big song and dance about ethical trading because FairTrade only accounts for such a small percentage of coffee suppliers.

[muntjac]

wont all that caffiene make ya runners a bit hyper?

[Laura]

i'll ask them about that when i'm there Wellingtons, and yes Muntjac i'm hoping that it might speed everything up, by the way i've jotted down your instructions for the bean frame, i'm going to build one or even two over the cold winter months - it looks fantastic!!!

[muntjac]

hopes ya get great results hon ,, remember you ladies a nut goes on a bolt  not tother way round  

[Donut]

There are a couple of things to remember about coffee grounds....they ar supposed to be a good slug repelant but....cafeine is also an insecticide which may be good or bad depending on the insect I guess.
Donut

[Arthur_Bagabeans]

I like the sound of that!! I shall take you up on that advice and get in touch with our local Starbucks and see if they can help me out!

Thanks for the tip

[Laura]

yes Wellingtons it's all ethically sourced which is good enough for me!  i got 6 bags of grounds that i'm going to share out this evening when i go up to water my tomatoes.  
and next week i'm going back for more

[Spon]

Was watching an old episode of Gardener's World on a cable channel yesterday when they said that coffee grounds act as good camouflage material for keeping carrot root fly off your crops