Homegrown tomatoes are very rewarding, providing fresh, juicy fruit that’s perfect for everything from salads to sauces. However, growing these fruits at home requires patience and more than just climate and watering. According to experts, it’s important to feed them regularly to get the best harvest.
There are many ways to feed tomatoes, but LeAnne Samuleson, a gardening expert from Prestige Botanicals, recommended one item that’s probably already in your kitchen. The expert said: “Tomatoes absolutely love coffee grounds. They’ll grow bigger and sweeter when you use them, and the best part is that it won’t cost you a penny.
“You can even use grounds from coffee pods, recycling them to fertilise your plant, so everyone benefits.”
Tomatoes thrive in slightly acidic soil, and coffee grounds are naturally acidic, which helps to create the perfect growing environment for them.
The grounds also contain around 2% nitrogen, along with phosphorus and potassium, three essential nutrients to help them grow.
The expert added: “To use coffee grounds effectively, simply take about a cup of used grounds and sprinkle them around the base of your tomato plant.
“Then, work the grounds into the top two to three inches of the soil. This method helps the grounds break down and release their nutrients, enriching the soil over time.”
For those looking for a more convenient option, you can also add coffee grounds to a compost bin. After some time, the compost can be used as fertiliser, but make sure that the grounds make up no more than 20% of the compost material.
LeAnne said: “Excess coffee grounds can make the compost too acidic, which could end up harming your tomato plants rather than helping them.”
Another fun way to use them in the garden is to make a tea, according to the expert. Add two cups of used grounds to a bucket of water and let it steep for several hours or overnight.
This can be used as a liquid fertilsier for gardena nd container plants, giving your tomatoes an added boost.
The expert warned: “They won’t work immediately. In fact, they might take a couple of weeks before releasing enough nutrients to benefit your tomatoes.
“In the short term, they could even have the opposite effect, but with patience, the plants will definitely reap the rewards.”
