Coffee to Compost

Find out how you can recycle coffee grounds from our retailers to create your own compost

Coffee compost web

We have launched our Coffee to Compost scheme at Midsummer place. This involves coffee shop waste turned into compost.

We are giving out free bags of coffee ‘waste’ to all green fingered gardeners, which you can pick up from our coffee cart on the mall from Friday 1st July. These can be used as a natural fertiliser to help your garden look blooming lovely in no time!

Coffee grounds are a natural, long-term way to enrich soil and speed up the composting process, using waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. As they are high in nitrogen, coffee grounds can help with plant growth, particularly for acid-loving plants such as azaleas, hydrangeas, blueberries, and lilies, as well as root crops like carrots or radishes.

See below for some useful tips and tricks on how best to use your coffee grounds, but we advise searching for more detailed advice online to make sure you make the best out of your coffee grounds in a safe way.

  • Coffee grounds when used appropriately can help in retaining water, aeration and drainage. To achieve this it is advised to sprinkle the grounds directly onto your soil and lightly rake it in. (information obtained from Country Living)
  • If you want to use it as Mulch, then we recommend mixing it in with things such as leaf mould, this helps reduce the chance of clumps forming which could end up blocking the water supply to the plants and them becoming dehydrated! Just make sure you don’t apply it too thickly. If you do this correctly then mulch will help at keeping the soil moisture, keep those weeds at bay as well as helping tackle that winter frost. (information obtained from Country Living)
  • Although when used correctly coffee grounds make great fertiliser and mulch, they are however not so great for our four legged friends, they can be harmful to pets in large enough doses. Although its hard to measure the amount of caffeine used in the coffee grounds, it is advised to avoid laying coffee grounds directly on to your garden, especially those areas where your pets love to sniff! Instead bury the coffee grounds in to your heap of compost instead! (information obtained from Grow Veg)

Some useful websites we used to find these tips and tricks are:

https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/a-common-sense-guide-to-using-coffee-grounds-in-the-garden/

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/gardens/a36070165/coffee-grounds-garden/

There were also lots more to read up on, so we recommend having a look before using your coffee grounds.*

*Please note you are responsible for the usage of coffee grounds in your garden. We advise researching ways in order to do this safely and appropriately. Midsummer Place do not take any liability for usage of coffee grounds in your garden.