Wednesday, June 13, 2012

roses and tomatoes love coffee

While reading various tips on plant care, I came upon an interesting fertilizing tip. Certain plants love coffee; the spent coffee grounds that is. The spent coffee grounds contain low levels of acid as well as other minerals and properties that are beneficial to some plants. Apparently, roses and tomatoes are acid-loving plants and would benefit from a bit of coffee grounds. I thought this is a wonderful tip because TH drinks coffee and I thought this would be a nice way to use food waste.

TH finally brought home some spent coffee grounds home from the shop. I dried it out in the oven on a cookie sheet. I've mixed it into the growing media, and used this mix when I repotted the roses and some of the tomato plants. I even sprinkled some of the grounds at the base of the potted tomato plants.

orange rose

white rose

Since I've added the spent coffee grounds, the mini roses seem to flourish and not languish. Previously, the blooms seems to struggle to open. This was especially the case for the white and mauve mini roses. They're happier now. The tomato plants that were given spent coffee grounds seemed to respond positively with growth and blossoms. In fact, green globes are forming.

green tomato

tomato blossoms

The tip of using spent coffee grounds as fertilizer was a timely find. I think the plants that received the spent coffee grounds are happy. I'm looking forward to more blooms and fruits.

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