Blueberries are a popular choice among gardeners, given the ease with which they grow and the intense taste that you get with fresh blueberries. If you are a coffee lover and a gardener, you might be familiar with composting and using coffee grounds and other organic materials to nourish your plants. You might have read about the nitrogen-boosting qualities of coffee grounds, which leads you to wonder if your gorgeous blueberry bushes might enjoy a few coffee grounds now and then. The answer is an unequivocal yes! Blueberry bushes love coffee grounds and can derive tons of essential nutrients from what’s left over after brewing your morning cup of heaven.
The Benefits of Coffee Grounds for Blueberries
Blueberries do well in acidic soil, which is why many gardeners prefer to grow the bushes in containers; the high acidity blueberry bushes enjoy is often too much for neighboring plants. Depending on where you live and the quality of your soil, it can be extremely difficult to limit acid leaching, making it hard to give your blueberry bushes the environment they crave. Yet, planting your blueberry bushes in containers makes it more difficult for your plants to get all the nutrients they need naturally through the soil, increasing the need to give your plants special treats like coffee grounds!
Coffee grounds are a great way to give your blueberry plants nitrogen and increase the soil’s acidity. Nitrogen is critical to plant survival due to its critical role in forming chlorophyll, which is the green pigment that plants use to create food from water and sunlight during photosynthesis. Other essential nutrients your blueberry plants can obtain through coffee grounds include copper, zinc, iron, magnesium, boron, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus. Coffee grounds have the added benefit of being a natural pesticide. Be careful if you have pets or plant your blueberry bushes outside since caffeine is toxic to dogs and cats.
How To Use Coffee Grounds
There are three ways to provide your blueberry plants with the benefits of coffee grounds: add them directly to the soil, compost them, or mix them with mulch. If you’re not in the mood to compost and want a convenient way to use your coffee grounds, throw the grounds from one or two cups of coffee into the soil and give it a good mix. Make sure not to put the grounds too close to the actual plant: aim for 1–2 inches away from the bush’s trunk. Once every 2 or 3 months is the most that a healthy blueberry bush can tolerate the direct introduction of coffee grounds.
If you are a regular coffee drinker and a committed gardener, composting is a great option that will create a ton of nutritious food you can provide to almost all your plants. If composting is too much trouble, mulching provides a nice intermediate alternative. Just mix your coffee grounds with mulching materials like bark, straw, and pine needles, and add them to the top of the soil around your plant.
Can You Go Overboard with the Coffee Grounds?
Absolutely! Plants benefit from the nutrients in coffee grounds, but you can harm your plant if you add coffee grounds to the soil too often. If your bush’s leaves start to turn yellow and begin losing firmness, it’s a sure sign you need to back off. Also, make sure not to add coffee grounds to your blueberry plant’s soil during the winter. Plants don’t require as many nutrients during the cold months, increasing the likelihood your coffee grounds will leach chemicals into the soil without being used, which can eventually poison your plant.
Other Ways to Use Coffee Grounds in Your Garden
If you’re a regular coffee drinker, you’ll likely have more coffee grounds on your hands than you can use to add nourishment to your blueberry bushes safely. Don’t despair; several other plants also benefit from coffee grounds! Any plant that does well in low pH conditions will benefit from your old coffee grounds. Distribute coffee grounds around your rhododendrons, hollies, hibiscus, roses, azaleas, radishes, cabbage, hydrangeas, and carrots to increase the acidity and nitrogen content of the soil.
Are There Plants That Don’t Do Well With Coffee Grounds?
Absolutely. Even though coffee grounds are a great way to introduce nitrogen to the soil, they also increase the acidity of the ground, making it difficult for some plants to thrive. Tomatoes, alfalfa, snake plants, periwinkle, lavender, orchids, rosemary, leeks, clover, broccoli, and sunflowers don’t do well when fertilized with coffee grounds. Soil treated with coffee grounds also tends to retain lots of moisture, making it less than ideal for plants that don’t need much water, like cacti and succulents.
Final Thoughts
Just in case you’re wondering, fresh homegrown blueberries are a superfood — just like your morning cup of coffee! Blueberries deliver several health benefits, including critical vitamins and minerals, and they’re packed full of antioxidants protecting cells against free radical environmental damage. They are also a tasty way to get vitamin C and manganese; vitamin C is critical for proper immune functions and manganese provides support for muscles. Blueberry consumption may help control cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, and lower blood pressure!
Featured Image Credit: NmewahanG, Pixabay
