After a hot, dry summer, many lawns are looking brown, sparse, and close to dying, with weeds sprouting due to the lack of rain. As the weather cools before winter, gardeners can restore their grass using a simple kitchen ingredient often thrown away: coffee grounds.
Why Coffee Grounds Help Lawns
Jim and Mary Competti, who have over 20 years of hands-on gardening experience and run This Is My Garden, say coffee grounds can “improve your lawn” in autumn. They explain that the grounds are perfect for raking into lawns to fertilise the grass and add organic matter to the top layer of the soil.
“Spent grounds are filled with phosphorus, nitrogen, and other trace minerals. These minerals are vital for healthy, green, lush lawns,” they said. “When raked into lawns, the grounds slowly break down, leaching these nutrients into the soil – much like a synthetic fertiliser would be, but without all the chemicals.”
Benefits for Soil and Worms
Coffee grounds also benefit earthworms. As worms travel through the soil, they consume the easily digestible grounds. In return, they create worm castings and aerate the soil at the same time.
How to Apply Coffee Grounds
Gardeners do not need to save up buckets of spent grounds. They can scatter them daily or weekly to start feeding the lawn. Let the used grounds cool and dry a little before use, then sprinkle them over the lawn, aiming for about a cup per square yard.
Water the area gently after spreading to help the grounds settle into the thatch and reach the soil. Spread the grounds evenly rather than dropping clumps, or dump them in piles and use a rake to spread them over the desired area.
