I just got a tip from a neighbor who has a small, backyard garden. He said he uses used coffee grounds and egg shells to help mulch. He's got a few vegetables and flowers, and they seem to be doing pretty good.
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I just got a tip from a neighbor who has a small, backyard garden. He said he uses used coffee grounds and egg shells to help mulch. He's got a few vegetables and flowers, and they seem to be doing pretty good.
My husband was saving up coffee grounds and egg shells this past spring to start a compost bed. Thanks to his work schedule he never did get to try it out. Maybe next year.
I have heard that coffee grounds are good for roses as well. I dump my used ones under my rose bushes once a week and the ones that I have that are climbing roses grow so much I have to cut them back two or three times a year.
Yeah they are great for compost. I would crush up the egg shells as much as possible though. They put calcium into the soil. We used to use pig blood around our roses when I was home. When butchering time came we just drained the hog and poured it directly around the roses. They loved it.
A few weeks ago I saw a local program that spoke about starting a composting pile. Coffee grounds and egg shells sound great to try. Here is what they used to start theirs. First they tore up newspapers into strips. They also used coffee filters. Next went in anything organic, but here is the important part – not cooked. So if you had fresh broccoli that would be fine to use, but you could not use it if it was cooked. Peelings from fruits and vegetables were fine. In a matter of weeks, they had a nice amount of soil ready for planting.
My Mom saves the coffee grinds and egg shells. She doesn't put them in a compost or anything, she just puts them in her planters. I'm not sure if it makes any difference versus having them in a compost pile.
I haven't tried this yet. Unfortunately, I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening.
You know there is a dry granular fertilizer called "blood meal" that's supposedly great for roses. A neighbor told me broadcasting it around the garden was a way to keep the cottontails out, so I used to do that. Of course you have to replenish it after each rain. I don't know about roses, but it sure did make the bermuda grass grow good around the garden.:laughing:Quote:
Originally Posted by Davis
And I never bothered composting, but did like to throw the egg shells and coffee grounds into the garden and till them in.
For quite a few years I've been dumping all of my grass cuttings and mulched leaves in a heap at the side of one of my flower beds. The soil was really poor in that area so every year in the spring I've been working in the decpmposed residue from the previous year. I don't know if it's very high in nutrients but it has greatly improved the tilth and the flowers grow well there.
I keep meaning to start a compost pile but so far it hasn't actually happened. Just using coffee grounds and egg shells would be easy though! Do you need to rinse any leftover egg white from the shell?
As a kid, I kept the worms I found for fishing on instant coffee.
For compost, use the egg's as discarded.Quote:
Originally Posted by OldMcDonald
I have heard this is an extremely successful method. Keep me posted on how it works out for you all.
When I lived in Northern Ontario, we had a compost pile, as did many of our neighbors. We tossed cooked veggie left overs in there as well as the raw trimmings, peelings and rotten ones. Cooked or not didn't make any difference in break-down. Cooked has less of the good stuff than raw, but it's still better going back to the soil than in the landfill.
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Originally Posted by Cracko'Dawn