Soil conditioning with coffee grounds

[kickstand]

We have some pretty nasty soil here...really more dirt than soil. I'm trying to.make it better, at least in the garden. Along with the addition of a number of bags of peat moss, I've also been saving used coffee grounds to till in. My question is, will my corn and taters taste like old coffee grounds? And in case you're wondering, yes, I'm totally serious.

[Goingbush]

we always pee on the lemon trees (well the ground under the trees) and bury dead cats under passionfruit vines.
coffee should not be a problem, as we always throw tea leaves on the garden.

[doublel]

Your veggies shouldn't taste like coffee. The soil microbes should break the coffee down into useable parts for the plants, basically composting it before absorption.

[JulieNY]

My Grannie used coffee grounds in our garden religiously to help the soil and also it repels some pests. None of our food ever tasted like old coffee ever. Do you have a compost bin? That would be the best way to get your soil up to snuff. I built one (after my old metal drum one died) in about 20 minutes out of pallets. It is like the one southernmom built, but instead of one bin it is 3 to ensure a constant supply of compost.

[kickstand]

No compost bins, yet. I need to look for Southernmom's post, I must have missed that. Thanks to all!

[Jstwaiting]

Up here in tundra country - a load of aged horse manure does wonders for the garden.

[AD]

The problem we have out west that the rest of the country does not is the soil is very alkaline and can go way beyond a ph>9 or greater.

Add to this the issue of Caliche which due to the high temps water in the soil changes phase to water vapor at some depth below the soil surface. When it does it leave behind all minerals that it carries in solution forming a cement like layer that is know as Caliche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche

My first home in the PHX area(new construction on desert land) i planted sahmal ash trees(3 -24inch boxex) in the front yard and every frickin year they would die. After three years of this i decided to dig the hole DEEP. When I got down about 3 feet it smelled like a sewer. What was happening was as the tree was watered, the water would drain until it hit the layer of caliche and stopped dead. The bottom of the hole was a wet toxic mess.

So i rented a jack hammer(really) and after 4 hours broke through the caliche. In the end the whole was 7 feet deep amd when the trees were replanted they grew well.

The back yard 1/3 of an acre was graded but not planted with grass. It was two years before I could afford to do the yard and in those two years not one weed or nasty of any type grew. When it would rain, i would get water standing for weeks before evaporating.

The best way to get anything to grow except alkaline indicator plants is by dropping the pH. you can use coffee grounds, soil sulphur and even solutions of water and sulfuric acid

http://www.turf2max.com/Soil%20Restoration/pH-of-soil.html

How to Amend High pH Soils

Amending soils with a high pH can be more problematic. In areas such as Arizona, land managers may apply a solution of sulfuric acid during the winter to help lower the pH. Certainly this requires close monitoring and not recommended without obtaining specific guidance from a professional for a particular site.

[W.Lynn]

If you use a composting bin, you can dump the grounds in, filter and all. The filter paper will break down as fast as some veggie skins will.

[MillenniumMan]

we always pee on the lemon trees (well the ground under the trees) and bury dead cats under passionfruit vines.
coffee should not be a problem, as we always throw tea leaves on the garden.

With that kind of logic and old pegleg asking if corn can taste like coffee, no wonder lemons are yellow. lol.giflmao.gif

[Rockntoy]

Always used coffee grounds in my night crawler boxes. They loved that stuff and sawdust to. They would eat the stuff and really make the soil very rich.

[nichevo]

Try pouring some beer in that garden

[kickstand]

Wouldn't that be alcohol abuse?

[nichevo]

You'll have hoppy spuds

[W.Lynn]

Beer in the garden is slug/snail abuse isn't it?