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Hyper Caffeinated Organic Yard Care

August 18, 2009 in Organic Gardening by Jennifer | 2 comments

You may LOVE coffee but you know who else does? Ok, yeah it’s me, but your yard also adores caffeine, or at least the grounds left over from your morning brew.

Why amp up your yard with coffee grounds?

  • Plants REALLY love nitrogen. Nitrogen is part of what makes your plants ultra healthy and coffee grounds release a ton of it along with other substances that promote healthy plant growth.
  • Coffee grounds are trouble free. You don’t have to compost the ground before you use them; although you can if you like – the grounds will just distribute through your compost mixture. However, if you don’t compost you can simply spread the grounds around evenly among your plants or til your grounds into the soil pre-planting.
  • Coffee grounds can detour pests from your garden. Slugs, snails and cats are just some of the garden pests who hate coffee grounds.
  • Coffee grounds, especially organic grounds don’t contain the same toxic stuff as many commercial plant foods.
  • If you drink coffee it’s a free bonus!
  • Bonus tip – if you’ve got some old beans that you don’t want to drink, keep them ungrounded and use them as mulch. You can sprinkle them among plants and the effect is pretty cool – like small glossy and fragrant pebbles.

Not a coffee drinker?

Visit your local coffee shop and see if you can score some used grounds. Ask your friends who may be willing to save some for you. If you can’t find used grounds it may be worth it to your tomatoes to buy some beans and brew some coffee anyhow. You can use the coffee (cooled) to water your plants then use the grounds in the garden.

10 Fast Ways to Green Your Kitchen

October 22, 2008 in Green Your Home by Jennifer | 2 comments

1. Green your brew: Use a reusable coffee filter instead of paper filters (I’ve had mine for four years now, and it’s in great shape). If tea is your drink, use loose leaf tea, instead of paper bound tea bags.

2. Green your trash: Recycle and compost more than you are now. Most of us can afford to complete a trash audit. You’d be surprised at what ends up in the garbage can.

3. Green your cleaning: You don’t need harsh cleaners in any room of the house. But there’s food in the kitchen, so being more careful in this room counts even more.

4. Green your herbs: Grow your own organic herbs. They taste better, cost less, and make your windowsill a little more beautiful.
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Green Benefits of Garbage Disposals

September 17, 2008 in Green Your Home by Jennifer | No comments

If you don’t have a garbage disposal at your house, you should. There are plenty of green benefits to installing and running a garbage disposal.

Garbage disposals keep trash out of landfills. You may think, well, it’s just old food, but stuck at the bottom of a landfill, old food can still take a while to decompose and it also is one of the major factors contributing to the smell at the dump.

Garbage disposals are fast, meaning people are more likely to use them, which in turns means less trash tossed.

Garbage disposals help you to recycle. If you toss cardboard or an old can in the trash, then later realize this, are you more likely to dig it out if the trash isn’t full of icky wet tossed food? Yeah, you are.

A side benefit of the garbage disposal is that it makes your whole kitchen smell better – no gross old food rotting away in the can.

Your other option when it comes to food scraps is a compost pile outside, or a kitchen compost bin inside. Both are great options, especially if you’re an avid gardener, but overall, for non-gardening folks, a garbage disposal is a great green tool. Make sure your next kitchen comes equipped with one, or if your current kitchen is missing one consider installing a new disposal.