Tomatoes are a favourite for many home gardeners, providing fresh, juicy fruit that’s perfect for everything from salads to sauces.
However, growing these delicious fruits at home requires more than just the right climate and watering. It’s important to feed the plants properly to get the best yield and fertilising plays a vital role in ensuring a fruitful harvest.
While tomato plants are known for being heavy feeders, they can quickly drain the soil of its nutrients. No matter how nutrient-rich your soil might be at first, without proper replenishment, the plants won’t thrive to their fullest potential.
So, giving them the right fertiliser is key. And surprisingly, one of the best options is probably already sitting in your kitchen.
LeAnne Samuelson, a gardening expert from Prestige Botanicals, says that tomatoes “absolutely love coffee grounds”. If you brew your coffee at home, save those used grounds and use them to give your tomato plants a nutrient boost.
“Tomatoes will grow bigger and sweeter when you use coffee grounds and the best part is it won’t cost you a penny,” LeAnne said.
“You can even use the grounds from coffee pods, recycling them to fertilise your plants, so everyone benefits.”
Why it works
The magic behind coffee grounds lies in the fact that tomatoes thrive in slightly acidic soil. Coffee grounds are naturally acidic, which helps create the perfect growing environment for these plants.
The grounds also contain around two percent nitrogen, along with varying levels of phosphorus and potassium – three nutrients essential for the growth and vitality of tomato plants.
“To use coffee grounds effectively, simply take about a cup of used grounds and sprinkle them around the base of your tomato plant,” said LeAnne.
“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,” LeAnne explains.
For those looking for an even more convenient option, you can add your coffee grounds to a compost bin. After some time, this compost can be used as a fertiliser, though LeAnne advises that coffee grounds should make up no more than 20 percent of the compost material.
“Excess coffee grounds can make the compost too acidic, which could end up harming your tomato plants rather than helping them,” she said.
Make coffee ground tea
Another fun idea is to make coffee ground tea.
“Add two cups of used coffee grounds to a five-gallon bucket of water and let it steep for several hours or overnight. This ‘coffee tea’ can be used as a liquid fertiliser for garden and container plants, giving your tomatoes an added boost,” the expert advised.
However, it’s important to note that coffee grounds are not a quick-fix solution like traditional fertilisers.
“They won’t work immediately. In fact, they might take a couple of weeks before releasing enough nutrients to benefit your tomatoes,” says LeAnne.
“In the short term, they could even have the opposite effect, but with patience, the plants will definitely reap the rewards.”
