My other passion in life is drinking coffee.  One of the first things I’ll do on a Sunday morning is to put the espresso on to the stove,  and wander out into the backyard and examine the vegetable patch.  Its during this time I get to inspect the changes that have occurred in the garden over the past week.

Due to busy Professional/Family commitments, I tend to only spend a couple of hours over the weekend out in the veggie patch, and its this time that I cherish the most.  I also like to set myself limited time in the patch to prove that you don’t require a lot of time to a have productive backyard.

The by-product from my Sunday morning ritual is the remaining coffee grounds.   The used grounds make a great organic method to deter snails and slugs from young seedlings.   As there is nothing I hate more than spending my Sunday morning coffee looking at seedlings that have been molested and attacked by some very hungry snails and slugs.

Here is a step by step guide to my typical Sunday morning routine…

Step 1. Put the coffee on to the stove, make the Vegemite toast …wander out to the patch with both in hand.  Spend this time in the garden looking at what requires some attention.

Step 2: Head back in, remove the old coffee grounds from the coffee pot.

Step 3. Head back out to the garden, and sprinkle the used coffee grounds around the young seedling.

*Note:   If you have any brewed coffee left in the pot, you can also mix it in to a container at a ratio 10:1 with water and use as spray to also deter snails and slugs.