Coffee Grounds Are Good for the Garden

In case you needed more evidence:

In 2018, researchers from ETH-Zurich and the University of Hawaii spread 30 dump trucks worth of coffee pulp over a roughly 100′ x 130′ area of degraded land in Costa Rica. The experiment took place on a former coffee farm that underwent rapid deforestation in the 1950s.

The coffee pulp was spread three-feet thick over the entire area.

Another plot of land near the coffee pulp dump was left alone to act as a control for the experiment.

“The results were dramatic.” Dr. Rebecca Cole, lead author of the study , said. “The area treated with a thick layer of coffee pulp turned into a small forest in only two years while the control plot remained dominated by non-native pasture grasses.”

In just two years, the area treated with coffee pulp had an 80% canopy cover, compared to just 20% of the control area. So, the coffee-pulp-treated area grew four times more rapidly. Like a jolt of caffeine, it reinvigorated biological activity in the area.

The canopy was also four times taller than that of the control.

Thank you for forwarding the article, Amanda. I actually picked up a five-gallon bucket of coffee grounds from a local shop this morning.

This article reminds me of the forest that grew where a company dumped tons of orange peels.

It’s terrible how much food waste ends up in the landfill. We’ve now got two local businesses giving us food scraps and coffee grounds. A third company has let us get lots of rotten wood shavings. The food scraps feed livestock and the compost pile, and the grounds feed the vegetables. It’s a marvelous thing.

I’ve considered getting another restaurant to contribute, but we’re already spending a few hours a week picking up and processing the “waste” we’re using now. Maybe if we get more pigs. Though if some company wanted to dump a few tons of coffee grounds out in my pasture, I wouldn’t complain.

Compost everything!