Ways to Feed Plants with Coffee Grounds

• Add coffee grounds directly to your compost bin.Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
  
  If you use composted soil for your garden beds, you can simply start using coffee grounds as plant food by dumping them directly into the compost heap and stirring them into the soil. It works quickly to enhance the nitrogen content of your soil. According to The Composting Council of Canada, coffee grounds also improve the texture of the soil and are useful in attracting earthworms.
  
  

Sprinkle Grounds Directly onto House Plants

• Potted plants can benefit from liquid fertilizer made with coffee grounds.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  To nourish house plants or plants already growing in a garden bed, just sprinkle one to two handfuls of coffee grounds around them, wait a few minutes, and then water them gently. The nitrogen released boosts their growth. Alternately, you can mix the grounds into the soil of the pot or the flower bed. For fastest-acting fertilizer, place one to two handfuls of used coffee grounds into a two-quart container and fill it with warm water. Let the mixture sit for three days in a cool spot and then pour it around the base of your plants.
  
  

Best Kinds of Coffee Grounds to Use in the Garden

• Drip coffeemaker grounds are preferred by gardeners.Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  From anecdotal evidence, more gardeners prefer coffee grounds from drip coffeemakers over the grounds from a percolator. There is a reason why they perceive plants do better from the former. Scientists have now discovered that the drip grounds are actually richer in nitrogen, so if you use percolator grounds, just increase the amount used. Growers interested in adhering strictly to organic gardening standards prefer to use grounds from organic coffee.
  
  

Coffee Grounds Offer Gardens Dual Benefits

• Coffee grounds deter destructive slugs and snails from propagating in the garden.Razmaz/Lifesize/Getty Images
  
  Besides providing nourishment to plants, coffee grounds have added benefits when introduced to the gardening process; they help first in maintaining ideal temperatures in compost piles. Applied to garden soil as well, they have been found to deter destructive slugs and snails that munch on leaves, destroying plants. Some gardeners combine coffee grounds with used, crushed egg shells and place them in a circular pattern around a plant to deter slugs and snails.