One TikToker revealed her hack for a natural, cost-effective fertilizer that keeps plants healthy. With just one ingredient that's almost guaranteed to be in your kitchen, you can try this now.
The scoop
"Did you know that coffee grounds are a great garden fertilizer?" the video text reads as the creator sprinkles coffee grounds where her plants were growing.
Bailey (@baileyroberson_) explained in the caption how simple it is to try. All she does is save her used coffee grounds from her espresso pucks, and then she sprinkles them in the garden.
@baileyroberson_ We save all of our used coffee grounds from our espresso pucks for fertilizing my garden! #gardening #garden #fertilizer #coffeegrounds #veggiegarden #cutflowergarden ♬ lovers' carvings - Bibio
How it's helping
The hack takes less than one minute, and it can save you a trip to the store to purchase expensive fertilizer that likely contains harsh chemicals, which are bad for your garden and your health.
It's been proved that fertilizers include harmful heavy metals, pathogens that include viruses, and even PFAS, or "forever chemicals," which persist in the environment and can contaminate food. Traces of pharmaceuticals and nitrates that can affect red blood cells at high concentrations have also been found in fertilizer.
A Johns Hopkins University study looked at the risks posed by fertilizers made from wastewater sludge.
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"We've been relatively in the dark when it comes to possible organic hazards in biosolids, and we need to know if there are any smoking guns that we're unaware of. Regulators need to know what these types of fertilizers are made of to determine how they can be responsibly used," assistant professor Carsten Prasse said.
Meanwhile, coffee grounds are already thoroughly checked by the Food and Drug Administration, as coffee is meant to be ingested by humans. As a bonus, gardeners can save money by sourcing their fertilizers from what they already have in the house.
Of course, vetted organic fertilizers are available to consumers, and experts caution that coffee grounds should be used in moderation and not with some plants. But, employed properly, the hack is still an example of saving money and reducing waste while benefiting a garden.
What everyone's saying
TikTokers were enthralled.
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Improving my garden's soil 🌱 "I'm definitely going to try this!" one commenter wrote.
Another added that using coffee grounds as fertilizer has even more benefits than you might think.
"They also prevent pests!" they wrote, citing an aspect of the hack that has at least some merit. "You can try used ones. I take my used K-Cups, cut them open and spread them around!"
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