wheelbarrow with potting soil
If you can put used coffee grounds in your garden soil… you are a beginning composter! Congratulations, you are now recycling your kitchen waste and creating better soil. My goal this year is to compost like the master gardeners, but until then, let’s take baby steps together. I keep an old wheelbarrow of organic potting soil for every day potting use, this is where I add the coffee grounds (it is suggested that only 25% of your soil is from coffee grounds). For those of you who do not drink coffee, you can get free bags of used grounds at Starbucks (seriously, you CAN get something for free!), or ask a neighbor to save theirs. Grounds can also be used as a top-dressing directly around your acidic loving plants such as: azaleas, hydrangea, camellias, and hibiscus to name just a few. Coffee grounds also work as an organic way to repel pests.
Follow this Starbucks link to read the nitty gritty facts on composting with coffee grounds.
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Recycled Coffee Grounds
yes, i got a little paint happy and created a “peace” wheelbarrow.
Any suggestions onto how to start composting when you don’t have a private yard? Perhaps I could just throw my coffee grounds in the planter in the center of the apartment building?
Funny! You can get an electric composter that is the size of a trash compactor from Nature Mill (www.naturemill.com) for super easy composting… it does all the work for you. The heap in the middle of the apartment complex might just start an interest in gardening though! I say put some containers out with lettuce and herbs and see how it goes!
Wow, I didn’t know you could buy those. That’s a great idea. But I wonder what the energy usage of the heater and other internal parts are — then you could do a mathematical analysis of whether it’s good or bad for the environment in the long run. And the cost isn’t too high — although I’m not sure I can justify spending that much just yet until I have a steady income!!
I looked on the website and couldn’t find anything about the cost per day for electricity, or units of electricity used. Maybe it just makes REALLY EXPENSIVE soil. I like the idea of recycling our kitchen waste back into the garden again…. and then again and again as food is grown, then put right back into the composter.