I'd like to know the answer to that question too. We have two convenience stores in my little community. I provide the bucket and the plastic trash bags. They fill them up twice a week so I'm getting four buckets a week. I've just been putting them in my compost pile. I think I need to use them around the garden as well.

Coffee grounds are great directly in the garden and they are also wonderful in compost.

If you are getting the little dry expresso pucks, you want to keep the layer of them pretty thin as they can repel water in some situations.

I would spread them relatively thin, definitely not more than an inch thick. If you wanted to complete that thickness for a small area at a time and go on to other layers that is an option. If you want your entire beds to have the same make up then you should spread what you get over the entire area. It is ok to do thinner layers with your lasagna beds, it just means you need more layers that way.

I'd broadcast them across the whole area. I use a nursery flat with the small holes to break up the hockey pucks -- sift the loose grounds through, and with a gloved hand push the chunkier pieces through. They need to be fairly moist, or else they form a water-repellent layer, so either keep the layers thin or mix them lightly as you build the pile.

It is never a good idea to put one type of organic matter in any one place because, like you, your soil bacteria need a varied diet. Different types of organic matter provide different nutrients beyond the N, P, K that are just as essential but seldom talked about. Spread them over a wide area with other types of organic matter.

Thanks for the advice, gang! I broadcasted last week's haul and covered it with a thin layer of chopped leaves/grass clippings. I've watered the area to keep it moist.
I love the idea of using the nursery flat to break up the hockey pucks. I haven't seen very many of those so far, but I've broken up the few I've seen. The flat will help me distribute the grounds more evenly.

Thanks!
Meg :)

I have also come across a source of coffee grounds and plan to use them as the primary "green" in my compost. I have a huge amount of leaves, one bin 10'x6'x4' and another about 8' square and 5' high, both full of leaves and lots more to go.
In the FAQ section it says you can use up to 25% coffee grounds by volume. Is my math correct and that would be like 22 cubic feet of grounds? That sounds like a lot but if it's the only nitrogen source maybe that much is needed.
Any thoughts?
Thanks...old dirt

Old dirt, unless my math is way off, you need a lot more than 22 cu ft of grounds to get 25% by volume.

You've got one that is 10*6*4. 25% of that would be 10*6*4/4 or 10*6, which gives 60. Then add the 8*8*5/4, which gives 80.

So you'd need 140 cu ft.

If 22 cu ft seems like a lot of grounds, 140 must seem unbelievable. But keep in mind how many cu ft of leaves you've got.

Almost a year ago I arranged to pick up grounds on the way to work at a "hippy" type coffee shop. It has worked wonderfully, and I've never had too many, although it's been over 16 5lb. buckets a week. I layer them with leaves in a bin, layer them in beds with leaves, spread them on the vegetable garden in the late winter. I have to screen them all, since the filters are left in with them. Over the winter I just stockpiled the buckets, and screened them all in the spring. The coffee shop manager says they put half the amount of stuff in the garbage compared to when I wasn't picking up buckets and grounds. What a win-win.

"I have to screen them all, since the filters are left in with them. "

The filters are just paper (a carbon source) so they'll decompose just fine.

Holy heaps of coffee grounds! You're right bpgreen, I don't know how I got my figures but they were way off.
At two 5 gal buckets of grounds a week, the leaves could almost break down without any added nitrogen before I get 140 cu ft hauled in.

Thanks to all that replied

According to google calculator, 140 cu ft is just more than 1047 gallons, so if you're getting 10 gallons a week, you'd have 140 cu ft in about two years.

they seem to be everywhere .. the first one i called in my area felt it might be a problem 'storing' their used grinds until i pick them up. at the moment they just throw them into the garbage .. so i'll keep working on them.

If it's a full service Starbucks (not one of the ones in an airport, grocery store, etc) you can point out to them that corporate policy is to make the grounds available to anybody who asks. It's called "Grounds for your Garden."