A caffeinated boost to make ordinary gardens extraordinary

One of the more brilliant things done by Starbucks, and not known by many people, is the "Grounds For Your Garden" program. In virtually every company owned Starbucks across the US Starbucks saves the used grounds for gardeners. Rose afficianados know well how spreading coffee grounds as a top dressing on the flower beds produce the most brilliant blooms, but virtually every other plant in the garden benefits as well. The grounds are always bagged up - reusing those bags in which the whole beans are shipped to the stores - so getting them home is easy.

Besides using the grounds as a top dressing for blooming plants, grounds have also been scattered around the base of foundation plants. On occassion, when there is a bit too much carbon based items in the compost (primarily all those dried leaves in Autumn) an addition of nitogen rich coffee grounds sets the compost back into balance. Aside from the benefit to my garden, the program also keeps millions of pounds of waste out of landfills.

Sometimes its little things like this that can make ordinary days, and ordinary gardens, into extraordinary ones!