Can there be too many coffee grounds for mulch?

I have access to buckets of coffee grounds. I've started putting them on top of plants in an area of poor soil that I'd like to enrich for next spring. Is there such a thing as too many coffeee grounds?

Thanks,

Maggie

Great question!!! I am also looking for an answer.

I have a bed that I want to get ready to plant in next spring. I work where we have tons of finely shredded paper. We also have a coffee shop (kind of like StarBucks). This fall we will have leaves galore. I was thinking of trying to do some layering over my bed since I have this awful clay dirt.

I can also get tons of egg shells. If I crush them wouldnt they make a good soil ammendment? Would I need to wash them first?

Please help this new gardener get her daylilly bed ready for the spring.

Thanks in advance,
Deb

Deb and Marg, I am the Coffee Ground King (self proclaimed), all of my plants love coffee grinds/grounds. So many people say they are acidic and yadda yadda yadda. Truth is they are near neutral, the acidity depletes with the brewing process. Roses loved them, hostas are now healthy because slugs can't or don't go near them. If you have access to the grounds use them as a soil additive or compost boost. It's hard to beleive something so beneficial is thrown away. John

Thanks John!

Know anything about the egg shells?

Thanbks John.

Maggie

Even though they don't break down eggshells can be added to compost, or can be placed on top of soil near hostas to deter slugs.

Thank you for this information..Ive wanted to go to our starbucks and ask them for grounds..it may not be worth it for me to travel out so far to pick them up since gas prices are so huigh but I can be creative around my own home area...I hate to throw anything away if it can be composted....Judy

Although Starbucks may be out of your range, try any old "mom and pop" corner gas/donut shop coffee house. Encourage them to throw the spent coffee grounds in a bucket that you'll get rid of, filter and all. You may have to supply the bucket, you may get an odd look but they'll soon understand and its lighter for them on trash day.

Good idea..now to talk them into leaving a bucket around...lolol....
This year I decided to enrich my veggie garden area so instead of growing tomatoes and peppers this year I covered my whole garden with leaves...I would love to start to layer it with grounds and compost for the winter and till it in the spring to plant a nice garden ....the coffee grounds will be a good start....thanks for the idea..Judy

Can you just add coffee grounds directly to the soil in your beds? No need to put in a compost bin, etc.? I am a relatively new gardener and am just learning about soil amendments. And I drink coffee every single day so could certainly save it for the garden as long as I can just mix it right in.

Amber, you can just toss it freely into your garden beds. No need for further breakdown, no need to dry them, just put 'em in.

my first time posting in this forum and i've already learned something. i've been throwing my grounds on my bananas, but wondered if it was too much of a good thing. when i enrich my new beds, i will definately add the grounds . what about the shredded paper? i am going to put down a thick layer of sheet newspaper for weed control, where would i put the shredded? thanks, debi

Fellow gardeners, I'm fascinated by all this talk and creative ideas. I don't drink coffee - my DH hates the smell. But I drink TEA, like 2 - 6 cups a day. Anyone have experience with tea, especially tea BAGS? Thanks,
Carrie

I've read roses like tea, but can't verify. Anything that was once alive will break down and add to the soil, so it shouldn't do any harm.
Kat

My first time posting too
- I have always thrown my coffee grounds into my garden and I collect them from the pots where I work. They help alot. My only problem is when they use flavored coffee I am always hungry when gardening ;-}

As to using egg shells I throw them around the tomatoes, my grandfather, (been gone thirty six years) always said the eggshells gave minerals to the tomatoes. He always had beautiful tomatoes so I never checked. Was he right?

speaking off the top of my head here, i would say calcium. regardless, always do what your grandfather said, those old guys (no disrespect) knew what the heck they were doing. debi

Carrie, I drink lots of tea and add all my teabags to the compost bin. They break down with all the rest and I'm sure they add to all that goodness. My mother,(who used leaves, not bags, of course), used to tip the remains of all the many pots of tea she brewed straight onto the rosebed. She always had beautiful roses.
Maggi

Think of tea as it is- Leaves crushed up in a little bag. It's organic material and is as good as compost added strait to the soil.


I would like to know the science behind eggs; but here is what I know: (Not science)
High in calcium, some plants truly benefit from a gob of it. Ferns, I've read somewhere...
Watch out for egg snatchers: A single uncracked raw egg can attract a brace of skunks, so a bunch of broken shells- imagine! I have added shells directly to beds for years, and my guess is that they do not rot as fast as leaves, etc, but I'll just say that I haven't found eggshell from years past.

Again, organic matter is organic matter is good stuff.

Egg shells - I've let mine air dry, then crush between some layers of newspaper with a rolling pin and mix into the compost pile or straight into the dirt. Also, as long as they are small enough and totally don't look like eggs, you can feed them back to your chickens to help make new egg shells.

Another good thing about the tea bags is that if you container garden, they help to retain water in your pots.

Ah egg shells! I grind mine into almost powder form with a coffee grinder. A handful goes into the transplanting hole of all my tomatoes for calcium! Excellent Slug deterrent as well, since they irritate their soft bodies. Coffee grounds are saved for me by a couple of restaurants I sell veggies to. I simply provide a clean bucket when I pick up their grounds. They're glad to recycle them!