Starbucks - Free coffee grounds for your garden

I came home a few days ago and found a bag on my porch. It held a large bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks.

I was excited because I knew about their program, but never remembered to check it out at the Starbucks in our local Kroger’s grocery store.

According to their website:

Starbucks started its 'Grounds for Your Garden' program in 1995, which is offered on a first-come, first-served basis in participating stores where local codes permit. Even the packaging has been reused – baristas scoop spent coffee grounds into the empty bags originally used to ship espresso beans to stores.

The White Orchid

Coffee grounds offer benefits to your gardening by increasing the nitrogen in the soil, and they give better structure to your soil.

Farmer's Almanac
Nitrogen in your soil is equivalent to the air we breathe as humans. It helps keep soil in good health. The coffee grounds contain some nitrogen and mixing them in with your soil makes it more “friable” meaning that plants will be able to more easily grow in this environment because the soil is nice and crumbly.  Not like in a slab of clay-like cement – er, I mean dirt. Yes, I have experience with this clay-like type of soil!

Some say that a ring of coffee grounds around your plants will

keep slugs away! All right....it's worth laying them down just for that! Slugs do such awful damage!

By all means if you make a pot of coffee every day like I do, save those grounds! I think a good way to do this is to put them in an open container and let them dry out before you use them. I have seen wet grounds get moldy.

For more information on the benefits of coffee grounds in your soil visit Oregon StateExtension .

Check out your local Starbucks OR your local independent coffee shop for free coffee grounds.

And by the way I do want to give a shout out to Starbucks as being a company that is truly giving back – not just in word but in deed(s). I receive no compensation from them, but I want to let you know that this company is pretty amazing and ask you to go to their website to see just how amazing they are. Read about their 

Global Responsibility.

Who was the mystery gifter of the grounds? My daughter. Thanks daughter!

Have you used coffee grounds in your garden - and if so, have you noticed any improvement in any way?

I'd love to hear any comments from you below, and I'd really love it if you would sign up for my blog!

Happy gardening to you, my friends~

~Ann