Coffee grounds, flowers, and bees. Oh my!

Melissa adding Makeda Coffee
grounds onto our beds

Coffee grounds are an excellent source of nitrogen for veggie beds. Thankfully we in Seattle have an abundance of sources for this black gold. Around every corner, it seems, there is a barista slinging away coffee grounds by the puck full. I do this every day at Makeda Coffee on 78th just off Greenwood Ave, and we use the very same grounds in our farm patches. In fact, Melissa was doing just that on Saturday at the 92nd Street farm patch.

Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth. There are limited ways to get nitrogen from out atmosphere (where it makes up 78% of all atmospheric gases) into the soil. The most common way is from the decomposition of organic matter (leaves, food waste, manure and coffee grounds). Other ways include nitrogen fixing plants like peas. There are very few plants that do this, and they're very important. Another way is directly from the air through aeration. So nitrogen (N) is our friend, and thankfully has no odor.

In other news, I'm still preparing our old windows for painting before I can start to frame. Melissa is doing arrangements for tomorrow (V Day). Yesterday we attended the NW Flower and Garden Show at the convention center. This is exciting only because I bought a starter lodge for my little matchbook of mason bees! These guys deserve another post all together, but I got my lodge from The Bees Knees up in Snohomish. Check em out!

 - Ben