For the rest of this current season, focus on growing soil. Not plants. Just grow your soil. Map out where you plan to have your garden plot. Remove all current vegetation (and pile that in a compost pile.) Break the soil (which likely will happen while you are digging out the current vegetation.) Add 6 inches of manure. Mix that into the top 6 inches of native soil. Cover that with mulch (layers upon layers of fresh grass clippings, layered no deeper that one inch at a time, for the rest of the summer). And then just let that sit until spring. You will have tremendous soil to grow things in next spring.
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Little late, but I would be planing on next seasonā¦then plan some more.
Lettuce will grow quick, you can plan left lettuce pretty easy, but tomatoā¦if you can grow them by the bucket full donāt tell me where you live.
What do you live?
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What are your thoughts on used coffee grounds?
I use them two ways.
I add them to compost. When I start using my finished pile, I find a significantly higher concentration of earthworms in the layers that had coffee grounds. I take this as a positive sign that itās good for the compost.
I also spread used coffee grounds on my lawn. Starbucks in many locations puts used grounds in bags separate from the rest of the trash so that gardeners can use them. When Iām going to spread them on my lawn, I accumulate a huge load of them (sometimes needing to visit several different shops to get enough.) I dump them into a wheelbarrow and separate out other things. (Some accidental garbage. But lots of compostable items that I donāt want to leave on the lawn, such as banana peels, tea bags, filters (yes, they are compostable), strawberry tops, and other such things.) Then I use a shovel and lightly spread the remaining grounds on the lawn.
There will be French press āpucksā in there. You can either pull them out with the other compostable stuff, or just let it lay on your grass like a dog turd. After a few hours in the sun, they get totally dried out, and kids love to whack them with sticks or bats or golf clubs. When they get whacked, they almost vaporize into dust. Huge fun for the kids.
For a few days after spreading, your lawn smells like a coffee shop. Most people enjoy that. Watering and rain wash the grounds into the soil where they will decompose.
Some people are concerned about acidity from the grounds. If you are using USED grounds, the acidity has been washed out in the brewing process. So no need to fear on that front. Do NOT use u-brewed grounds. If you have old coffee that hasnāt been brewed and you donāt want to use it in your coffee maker, then run it through your compost pile. Donāt use it in your garden or on your lawn.
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Great tips that I can use!
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I never thought of spreading used coffee grounds on my lawn. When is the best time to do this, Spring, Fall or anytime?
I do it when I have the time and the pile of grounds.
Youāre not going to over-fertilize by doing coffee grounds. Itās essentially adding compost to the soil. In my book, there is no wrong time to do this.
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Havenāt tried it yet, but if the grounds are dry and granular, can I use a spreader to disperse the grounds?
