Former royal gardener Jack Stooks revealed the kitchen item that could help transform your garden from a barren landscape into a beautiful retreat. Having previously worked at Highgrove Estate, in Tetbury, Jack Stooks shared to Coffee Friend how the simple coffee bean could do a lot of good to the garden.
“Coffee grounds can be used in the garden as a fertiliser,” said Jack. “Like most fertilisers, it consists of the elements NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.” It’s the ideal fertiliser to spread across borders to help encourage flowers to grow big and strong. “Coffee grounds are also really good for bringing worms into the garden,” added Jack, who noted that the worms help to bring air into the soil, thereby improving aeration.
Coffee in bulk could also be used as “thick mulch to place over the soil and around plants”.
Jack explained why this would be a good idea, stating that coffee mulch helps to “suppress weeds, lock in moisture and acts as a physical barrier to the wind and sun”.
Another benefit of adding coffee grounds to the garden is that they can repel certain pests.
“Coffee grounds are also good at getting rid of insects, such as mosquitos,” said Jack, which can be a big problem come summertime.
Imagine, you’re out in the garden, enjoying yourself with family and friends, then these mosquitos come along to bite you.
The expert advised placing coffee grounds “in the outdoor seating areas of your garden” to help deter the biting insects to stay away.
“Coffee is also great for acid-loving plants, such as hydrangeas,” said Jack, who added they can turn the plant’s petals into a lovely blue shade.
For this to happen, however, “you would want to feed them these coffee grounds in the autumn months”.
This means you will need to wait till the fall to add coffee grounds to hydrangeas in the garden for a blue bloom next spring.
“The coffee will be used as feed within the pots,” Jack clarified when talking about the hydrangeas.
Five top uses for coffee grounds in the garden
- Fertiliser
- Improve soil aeration
- Mulch
- Insect repellent
- Blue hydrangeas
