Monday, August 10, 2015

Coffee time

My Butterfly bush has grown several new leaves and bud spikes, and although she's not got as much bug damage as before, she still seems to be struggling to actually flower. I'd get one or two little blooms, then the whole spike would die off, barely flowering at all.

I did a little reading, and apparently, Butterfly bushes like nitrogen and leftover coffee grounds are an inexpensive way to add it to your garden. There's just one problem... I don't drink coffee, and Dave drinks instant (it's cheap and he's not picky)...

Mom to the rescue again
I asked her very nicely, and she's been saving all the used coffee pods from her Kuerig for me. On the weekend, I set to emptying them all out
All in all, there were 45 pods and it took me about half and hour, but it resulted in a big dish full of grounds.
Hopefully that will give the Butterfly bush the lift she needs... at the very least, that corner of the garden smells pretty good now.

5 comments:

Judy S. said...

I always thought the butterfly bush was pretty tough as they use it in highway plantings here. Interesting use for coffee grounds though, hope they work for you!

Araignee said...

That's a lot of coffee. That plant is going to be buzzing!

kathy b said...

Wow. I am really really interested in seeing if this works!

Anonymous said...

If you have a Starbucks near you, they offer "garden" grounds for free.

Delusional Knitter said...

Oh interesting! We have butterfly weed ... which I am thinking is the same thing. What color are your flowers (when they do bloom)?