valkyrie

I was the recipient of a HUGE bag of coffee grounds, about 25 lbs, this
week. Since my garden is a very small balcony I don't have anywhere to
compost. Can I just mulch the pots and empty window boxes, using it as a top
dressing. I went into a cleaning frenzy last weekend and pulled, clipped,
trimmed and spiffed up everything. Filled three large trash bags, this sort
of hurt since I long for a compost bin, oh well. I then filled all my
planters and pots with spring and summer flowering bulbs. It looks very bare
but sure lets a lot more light into the living room. I'm going to be
scouting the nursery nearby for some deep shade perennials on sale that I
can tuck into a few of these planters. I'm trying to figure out a place
for a worm bin. I'm sure it would be too cold outside this winter, even if I
figured out where I could tuck it, but there is NO place inside. I only have
two closets and they are a Rubik's Cube of storage engineering.

Val
http://photos.yahoo.com/valkyriemi

pwplee

I've been getting Starbuck's used grounds for my plants for a long
time. They do make good mulch but use sparingly. I also find that
they tend to contain flies (maggots) and gnats so you might want to
bake it before spreading it on indoor plants.

Vermicomposting is great indoors. I kept a stack of 5gal rubbermaids
under my kitchen sink without any troubles. To prevent smells, make
sure your brown:green=3:1 by weight. You have to take the whole thing
outside once a month and to pour out the drip tray and let the bottom
tray breath. Worms love coffee grounds.

compostman

Why would the grounds contain maggots? You must be going to an unusual
Starbucks. I also pick up coffee grounds from Starbucks and either use it
as mulch or in my compost. Never have seen one maggot.

--
Compostman
Washington, DC
USDA Zone 7

j kolenovsky

Same here. Every fall I collect 100 sacks of leaves and 10 pounds of
coffee grounds. Never had that problem in Houston.

JK

--
Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky
2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
ô¿ô - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
ô¿ô - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal