- wearegoodatthis
Saved by Coffee! Urban Gardening Update & Tip: Coffee as Natural Fertilizer!
I noticed that my basil plant was looking kind of pale and dying! As I mentioned in my urban gardening post, I bought a basil plant and some seeds. Everything was going so well...I'm using fresh basil all the time. Yada yada yada...And then I noticed it was kind of pale and dying...emergency situation!
https://www.wearegoodatthis.com/post/experiment-urban-gardening
I think it was outgrowing the little recycled plastic container vase I made for it and I may have been overwatering it.
The light green color is what the leaves looked like on the whole plant. I didn't think to take photo at the time.
So I took it out of that container and the only other bigger vase-like container I had was an old coffee glass container. I put it in there overnight without water, so it could dry out. The next morning, I put a little bit of water in the container. I did notice there was a little bit of coffee in it, but I didn't think that would matter.
I checked on it a few hours later AND IT PERKED UP LIKE IT HAD BEEN DRINKING COFFEE. Haha! :) Saved by coffee!
Tip: Dilute coffee as natural fertilizer
I looked it up and dilute coffee and coffee grounds is something people use as natural fertilizer!
"Coffee grounds (and brewed coffee) are a source of nitrogen for plants, which is the nutrient that produces healthy green growth and strong stems. Coffee also contains calcium and magnesium -- both of which are beneficial to plant health."
To use coffee as fertilizer, it should be dilute like tea and done about once per week.
https://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/use-diluted-coffee-to-fertilize-plants.htm
Serendipitous finding! Once per week, when I have my morning coffee, I'll make sure that Basil the basil plant does too. Haha! :) Give it a try! We are good at this!