Gardening question

[yellowfin]

I'm planting my garden now after 2 months of growing it inside from seed. This year my idea is to use coffee grounds mixed 50/50 with Miracle Grow garden soil for my potted plants––my local coffee shop has bags and bags of grounds for me to use and a friend where I used to live advised me she used this for growing blueberry bushes and other edibles. I'll be growing tomatoes, basil, and broccoli rabe (rappini) on my apartment balcony. Anyone doing this or have done so in the past? Do I have to use fungicide much for this? What other concerns or issues might there be?

[Inuvik]

I generally add them to my compost pile instead of adding them directly to the plants. However, I believe they are fairly PH neutral (after brewing) and the heat from the brewing should remove most if not all fungal spores.

[Redneck19]

I generally add them to my compost pile instead of adding them directly to the plants.

Ditto.

Depending on your location- i.e., how much room you have, you will probably want to build a compost pile. You can actually keep it in a 5 gallon plastic bucket and roll it (with the lid on) for turning it.
Compost is pretty multi-use.

[Redmanfms]

I have no idea if coffee grounds really have much in the way of plant nutrition. I'm with the other guys, you should compost your food scraps, it can be pretty readily done on your balcony with a bin placed in the corner out of the way.

Here's an idea I once used:

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/compost/ht/storagecompost.htm

[NavyDavy55]

Coffee grounds are a source of nitrogen, calcium and magnesium.

Coffee grounds alone are highly acidic. Only spread coffee grounds around acid-loving plants.

Add a cup of agricultural lime to every ten pounds of grounds BEFORE you add them to your compost.

Do not overdo it on flowering plants, as coffee grounds are high in Nitrogen, which makes plants grow big, but can inhibit the numbers of flowers and fruits.

[yellowfin]

Something funny to note: after two rain storms, the water that drains out of the drip pans underneath the planters still looks and smells like coffee. :laugh: I'm going to do half of the plants with a coffee ground mix and the other half with manure soil mix from local cattle farms.

[Vic303]

Tomato plants need calcium in their soil. They prefer a sweeter soil (less acidic). I would not use coffee grounds on them. Blueberries love and need acidic soil. You generally need to supplement soil with pelletized sulphur for them.

[yellowfin]

So I should use wood/charcoal ash on the tomatoes then?

[Vic303]

Eggshells, maybe garden lime, or pelletized calcium all will work, but the latter two are simpler and make it easier to give a known quantity of calcium...

[BluegrassGunGuy]

When im preparing my garden I spread leaves and composted horse muck out in the fall and till it under in the spring and plant. For potted plants I mix my own with the cheap bags of topsoil and manure at Lowes, add a cup or two of miricle grow organic(composted chiken shit), and a cup of biotone and your good to go.

[HAMMERDROP]

I gardened hard for several years and grew a variety of veggies and vine fruits but mostly tomatoes. I tried coffee grounds many times and it seems like everything else to facilitate rapid and productive growth. It semed hit and miss with store bought plants and even packaged seeds. I had the best overall luck with the volunteer tomatoes plants that would sprout annually after my second or third year of gardening. As far as maintenence and feeding the volunteers seemed self sufficient and better acclimated. Without any real research I began to think hothouse tomato seeds and plants were just not able to deal with harsh sunlight and clay packed Missouri dirt even with added sweeteners. I know this is little help with a new garden but keep in mind next year. Learn to ID the volunteer tomato sprouts and cultivate them.

Michael