January 12, 2025 – Even though it’s January, you should be planning this year’s garden. Hopefully, creating a plan, laying out a timeline for it, preparing the soil, and ordering seeds/supplies have already been accomplished, so let’s concentrate on two items, coffee grounds and egg shells.
If you haven’t been saving your coffee grounds to use as a 9% or so nitrogen fertilizer, take 1-2 five-gallon buckets to a restaurant and request they dump their coffee grounds in them instead of the trash. In just a few days, you’ll have all you need. Now transfer them to 5-gallon buckets that have several holes and 1-3 coffee filters in them. Place in a depression, so the liquid can seep out. Cover as necessary. In a week or two the liquids will be gone and you’re ready to spread the grounds in your garden on top or raking them in – your choice.
Egg shells in your garden are great, but it will take months to a year+ for them to break down and begin providing calcium for your plants. Preparing them is easy, but a little more complicated. I take two 5-gallon buckets to a local restaurant and swap them out for two more every 2-3 days. I usually go for 40 gallons (non-compressed!) in garbage bags, which takes more than a week, and then let them dry out for several days.
Next, put them in a blender with some water and puree. Drain off the water which has a high calcium content and save for later. Put the mashed shells in a 5-gallon bucket with holes/filters to drain away the liquid. Unlike coffee grounds, you’ll probably need to stir the mash ever 2-3 days. When dry, spread and rake the into garden soil. Also, put some in each hole, particularly a tomato plant hole.
