Boost your rose garden's bloom with one common household item

Roses and hydrangeas adore the scraps from the kitchen , don't they? Straight in with no fuss, coffee grounds can be buried in your garden beds as a nutritional pick-me-up for roses or even to fend off pests, without needing to compost them first.

Over in the Gardening UK Facebook group, Helen Skinner sparked a discussion on using a free box of coffee grounds grabbed from her local cafe , asking gardening buffs: "The coffee shop down the road has let me collect a box of grounds. How is it best to use though?".

In her inquiry, Skinner was considering if she should dilute the grounds with water or incorporate them directly into the soil near her rose, rhododendron, and azalea roots.

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The thread saw a raft of replies as fellow plant lovers shared their wisdom: Frances Reed posted, "I'm getting some from my local coffee shop for my roses. Been using it for years. Never fails me."

Meanwhile, sage advice came from Jim Saunders who said, "The best way to use coffee grounds is to dig it into the soil around your roses using a fork."

Binding together a trove of gardening savvy, Sandra Ferguson disclosed, "I sprinkle them around the base of my roses to give them a boost and they flower so much better and for longer. I then fork it in and water."

An extra nugget from Sandra, she found that coffee is mighty good at deterring unwanted feline and rodent visitors in her garden, claiming: "Found that the coffee has even worked to repel cats and rats I've seen entering my garden."

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Sheryl Worthy shared her gardening secret, saying: "I scatter mine throughout the whole garden. It's great for keeping the slugs at bay too."

Meanwhile, Rosemary Martin chimed in with a succinct tip: "And cats." Tracey Mclellan also divulged her approach: "I just sprinkle mine over the top of the soil have done for 15 plus years now used tea bags too, and my partner drinks a lot of ground coffee."

It turns out there's science behind these home remedies; both used and fresh coffee grounds are brimming with nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and a host of micronutrients, making them an ideal homemade garden fertiliser.

These household scraps have become quite the hit with gardening enthusiasts, who swear by their effectiveness in warding off pesky garden invaders like slugs and snails, as well as discouraging rodents and stopping cats from using veggie plots as their own private toilets.

Not to be outdone, banana peels are praised for their high potassium content, making them a fantastic addition to rose bushes, while also helping to fortify the plants' stems and give leaves a lustrous sheen.

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