One More Use Before the Landfill

If you use Keurig-type coffee machines, the accumulation of used small coffee packages might bother you. Well, it bothered me. We ended up getting a fill-your-own reusable alternative, but not after going through some of the normal ones. I realized that they might be a convenient way to start seeds, and it has turned out well so far. (In fact, corn -- or maize, if you prefer -- seeds will sprout directly in coffee grounds in place of soil.) These cups are a good size and, after being used in the coffee machine, they have a small hole punched in the bottom for drainage.

To set these up, I peel off the foil top and empty out the coffee grounds (which end up either in the compost, mixed with garden soil, or sprinkled under the rose bushes since roses apparently like acidic soil). I then tear out and discard the inner liner, and pack the cup full of a soil mixture. When it comes time to transplant, it's easy to cut through the side of the cup and peel the soft plastic back, leaving a soil+plant "cupcake" that is ready to go into the ground (or next container).

Speaking of soil mix, I'm using a mix of three materials in the "pots" in this shot -- approximately 1 part garden soil (poor-quality), 1 part store-bought potting soil, and 1 part used coffee grounds. Of the seeds I planted earlier with that mixture, only one has failed to come up. That's the one closest to the camera; the rest of the "pots" were put together today.