Coffee is a popular beverage consumed around the world. People usually throw away the coffee grounds left over after making their drink, but after reading this article, you can reconsider throwing them away.
Ground coffee grounds have many practical applications around the home and garden and can even help you make homemade cosmetics.
If you don't make a lot of coffee at home, most cafes have plenty of coffee grounds that are ready to be given, often for free.
Here are 5 ways to practically and cleverly use the remaining coffee grounds in your home.
Fertilize your garden
Most soils do not contain the necessary nutrients needed for optimal plant growth. Also, as plants grow, they absorb nutrients from the soil, eventually depleting those substances. This way most gardens need to be fertilized to ensure that the plants have the food they need to survive.
Coffee contains several essential minerals for plant growth - nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and chromium. Coffee beans can also absorb heavy metals that can contaminate the soil.
What's more, using coffee grounds on garden soil can attract worms, which are great for your garden. To use coffee as a fertilizer, simply spread it in the soil around your plants.
Compost for later
If you do not need an immediate fertilizer, you can compost your coffee for further use. Composting is a natural process that turns organic products such as food waste and leftovers in the yard into a dark and rich material called compost or humus.
Adding compost to your yard or garden can help the soil retain more nutrients and water, thus improving the health of your plants.
Repel insects and pests
Some compounds found in coffee, such as caffeine and diterpenes, can be highly toxic to insects.
Therefore, you can use coffee to keep the pests away.
It is effective in repelling mosquitoes, fruit flies and beetles, but can also help remove other pests. To use coffee as an insect and pest repellent, simply make piles of coffee residue and scatter it around outdoor seating areas.
You can also keep pests out of your garden by scattering coffee around your plants. It helps to create a barrier that stops harmful insects.
Remove fleas from your pet
Fleas are a common problem for pets and can be expensive and time consuming to treat.
There are several flea control products, but many of them contain chemicals and can cause unwanted side effects.
Fortunately, fleas do not like coffee and you can use coffee as a natural treatment.
Just rub the bases of your pet's fur with coffee grounds. Then rinse them off and let your pet dry as usual.
Neutralize odors
Coffee beans contain nitrogen, which helps remove unpleasant-smelling sulfur gas from the air when combined with carbon.
In other words, coffee can help absorb and eliminate odors.
You can place a bowl of leftover ground coffee in the refrigerator or freezer to neutralize odors from spoiled or fragrant foods.
You can also fill old socks or tights with coffee and tie them to make portable home air fresheners.
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