A compost pile is a great, eco-friendly way to turn leaves, grass clippings, and other vegetable matter into rich soil and mulch for your garden.
Coffee grounds and biodegradable coffee filters make a great addition to a compost pile, since earthworms love them. Used coffee grounds and filters are available for free to gardeners at some coffee shops.
Watch this video to find out more.
Further Information
- How to Make Compost for Your Garden (video)
- What Can Be Used for Compost (article)
- How to Make Leaf Compost (video)
- How to Build a Compost Bin (article)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: Tricia, I don’t know any active gardeners that don’t have a compost pile.
Tricia Craven Worley: Well, Danny, neither do I because it is one of the most beneficial tools in the garden, and it’s so easy to do. You know I actually have this compost bin, I wish I had about three more, And I also have a compost pile elsewhere in the garden.
But you know, you put all of your kitchen matter—no meat ever. But anything that is vegetable—scraps from the garden, all sorts of things in here. And in time, you know the leaves, the grass, everything breaks down, it becomes fabulous compost and mulch.
Another really important thing I add are coffee grounds.
Danny Lipford: Boy, that’s a lot of coffee. Somebody’s been drinking!
Tricia Craven Worley: Yeah, well, actually I haven’t drunk all this coffee. There are some coffee shops across the United States that actually save their coffee grounds and filters for crazy gardeners like me.
Danny Lipford: Oh, do they sell it?
Tricia Craven Worley: No. They just have it there, and you can take it. And it’s so wonderful, as you can see, the coffee grounds and the filters themselves are all biodegradable. Now, what’s so wonderful about coffee, is that worms love it.
Danny Lipford: Oh, OK. And that’s an important part of the compost pile is having the earthworms in there.
Tricia Craven Worley: That’s right. Well the coffee helps the compost pile be active. Meaning, you know, continuing the breakdown process. The earthworms, because they’re eating it, leave their castings and that creates this wonderful soil. So it’s a very symbiotic relationship for everybody, and I just love it!
