Strawberries are quite an easy garden crop to grow, but if you want an even bigger harvest, it is essential to fertilise them properly. Strawberry plants need more of the nutrient nitrogen in early spring as they are just beginning to grow their runners, the main stem that grows fruit.
This requires a lot of energy, and if strawberries do not get enough nitrogen in their soil, they are unlikely to grow strong foliage, which can lead to smaller berries once they fruit. However, Nicole Metzger, a gardener and founder of Metzger Acres, has shared that one simple way to improve the soil strawberries are planted in is to fertilise it with coffee grounds.
Nicole said: “The biggest benefit to using coffee grounds as fertilizer for strawberries or other garden plants is the acidic nature and the nitrogen content.
“Nitrogen is essential for plant growth and is especially important when strawberry plants are in their growth stage and producing runner plants.”
Nitrogen is the nutrient needed to encourage leafy green growth to help strawberries grow stronger foliage in spring so it will indirectly help the plant produce bigger fruit in the long run.
Coffee grounds also make soil slightly acidic which strawberries will love and creating their ideal environment conditions will also help their growth.
This is a natural but effective way to give strawberries a boost without using chemicals and will also help reduce any food waste in your home so your garden is much more eco-friendly.
However, one of the biggest benefits of coffee grounds is that their strong scent is known to repel many pests that come into gardens in springtime to eat any budding crops.
Nicole said: “Another benefit of using coffee grounds as fertilizer for your strawberries is that coffee is a natural pest control. Several insects and rodents dislike the smell/taste of the coffee grounds and will steer clear of your plants!
“Mosquitoes, rats and mice, ants, snails, wasps, and others cannot stand the smell of coffee grounds.”
How to use coffee grounds to feed strawberries
All you need to do is collect around 40g of leftover coffee grounds and place them into a bucket. Then, fill the bucket with a gallon of water and leave them to soak for 24 to 48 hours.
Make sure to mix the solution occasionally as it is stewing. However, once the time is up you will have an all-natural liquid fertiliser that you can feed to your strawberries.
It is incredibly important to dilute the coffee grounds as natural fertilisers are a more potent source of nutrients, and too much added to the soil will overfertilise your strawberries.
Overfertilisation can burn the plant roots which will harm the plant but too much nitrogen will cause the plant to only focus on growing the stems and leaves.
Nicole said: “If a strawberry plant receives too much nitrogen, its leaves and greenery will grow super lush, but its fruit and flowers will suffer. Obviously we are growing strawberry plants for their fruit and not their leaves so this is an important consideration.”
However, if you are careful and use only a moderate amount of coffee grounds then it will help get bigger and tastier fruit once their harvesting season begins in summer.
It should also be noted that you should be highly cautious using coffee grounds if you have pets as they are toxic to cats and dogs. Do not use them if your furry friend is known to eat things they find on the ground.