Can I throw used green tea leaves in garden?

November 14, 2022

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We all know the extensive list of ways in which green tea benefits our health. Green tea is not just great for us, though. Green tea leaves can also be a wonderfully healthy addition to the plants in your garden's diet.

Adding Green Tea Leaves To Your Garden

Green tea is very high in nitrogen, which is vital for your plant's survival because it's found in abundance in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the compound that enables plants to use energy from the sun to produce sugars from water and carbon dioxide (photosynthesis).

Nitrogen is also one of the main elements in amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. A lack of protein causes plants to wither and eventually die.

In addition, green tea leaves contain high amounts of phosphorus and potassium. These are just as essential to all different species of plants. And to top it all off, green tea leaves in your garden can also help with water retention in plants and deter weeds.

Tea Leaves Can Further Enrich Your Garden Soil With Nutrients

When you add these leaves to your garden, they not only give your plants a boost of nitrogen, helping them to grow faster, healthier, and more robust, but they also become food for earthworms, which work to contribute to the overall quality of the soil.

Green tea leaves act as a natural fertilizer or manure. This can be achieved directly in a few simple ways:

• You can spatter a thin layer of green tea leaves around the bases of your plants, focusing primarily on acid-friendly plants such as roses, tomatoes, or blueberries.
• These types of plants thrive in acidic soil. Green tea leaves produce this, but as long as you use the leaves sparingly, it will only add a small amount of acidity to your garden and benefit all kinds of plant varieties.
• Just sprinkle a decent amount of green tea leaves directly on top of the soil in your garden. Then, gently mix it into the soil.
• Place your biodegradable tea bag right under the soil.

In addition to helping with your gardening, you can also use Japanese green tea in your bath! Here's how.

Feed Your Garden With A Homemade Green Tea Superfood Tea For Plants

• Soak a used green tea bag in your watering can for a week or so, or until the water starts to change color. Use this green tea concoction to water your garden. This goes for indoor plants as well.
• After soaking the green tea bags, it's important to throw them away, as the leaves can eventually attract parasites just as much as beneficial worms. Before throwing them out, though, wipe all the leaves of your plants with the dampened tea bags to give them a little extra life.

If you're enjoying this post, don't miss this article next: Is It Safe to Eat Green Tea Leaves?

Put Green Tea Bags In With Your Compost Pile For Added Nutrients

• You can simply throw your green tea leaves into your regular compost pile for extra nutrients. They also help speed up the decomposition of the other ingredients in the compost pile. Earthworms eat up the leaves and process them, producing nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden.
• If the green tea bag is biodegradable (make sure it is first), you can add it to the compost bin as well!
• If the bag is not biodegradable? This means it contains a polypropylene coating, making it harmful to the earth. Remember that even biodegradable tea bags often have tags and staples, which must be removed before the composting process.
• Use this method in your garden when using green tea leaves for your edible fruits and vegetables. This is because applying green tea leaves directly to the soil during an active growth cycle can affect the pH balance and the taste of your crops.

Now you're probably starting to regret all those past cups of green tea where you threw away those precious tea bags without a second thought. But don't worry! We've all done it.

Just remember, now that you know, you can kill two birds with one stone. Go ahead, drink up that delicious green tea, and then let your garden taste some too!

This post was first published in 2018 but it was updated in 2021 just for you.

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