Using Coffee to Fuel Your Garden:
Many of us enjoy that daily cup (or two!) of coffee. If you frequent a local coffee shop, you might remember seeing bags of used grounds left out for gardeners. If you make yours at home, you should know that you have an on-hand organic fertilizer to use in your garden. Coffee grounds are all-natural organic material that can bring friendly microbes to your garden's soil. As the microbes snack on the coffee grounds, they gradually produce nitrogen and other nutrients for the plants. Some commercially available nitrogen additives can be too concentrated, and the quick change in soil composition can shock your plants. When possible, it is better to use naturally sourced, slowly accumulating nitrogen.
Unwashed coffee grounds make soil more acidic. Do your research, because some plants hate acidic soil and some plants love it. For those that love it, occasionally watering with leftover coffee (after it has cooled, of course) can help them get established. In addition to acting as fertilizer, coffee grounds can be used as natural pest control. Snails and slugs avoid places where coffee grounds are present. On the contrary, earthworms, which are beneficial to the soil, actually love coffee.
Eggshells In the Flowerbed:
Eggs are a wonderful little gift from nature with a million uses in the kitchen. Their shells are useless to chefs, but handy in the garden. Eggshells are made of calcium, an element that plants use to produce nice flowers. Adding calcium to the soil will supercharge your flowerbed. Bye-bye agricultural lime, hello eggshells! To use eggshells in your garden, first make sure they are clean and dry. Then, you can pulverize them using a food processor and add the dust directly to the soil. Or, you can steep them in hot water for a few days and make eggshell "tea."
Slip In a Banana Peel: Another important element to have in your soil is potassium. Everyone knows bananas are full of potassium, but did you know their peels are packed with potassium, too? Roses are especially hungry for potassium. To use banana peels in your garden, blend them into a mulch. The best time to fertilize with banana peels is before you've planted your new roses; bury the peel mulch in the soil beneath. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
