Preparing a Bed That's Had Winter Rye

So here's one of the beds that had winter rye growing in it over winter.

The rye keeps weeds from growing, and when it's tilled in, it adds quite a bit of organic matter.

I'll just chop it down, pile coffee grounds and compost on top of it, and till it in.

Here are a couple of similar beds, with the rye chopped down, and a load of coffee grounds piled on top.

I'll add about a slightly greater amount of fresh compost, and dig it in.

Sunset Magazine did some extensive testing of coffee grounds in a garden. They concluded that "up to 25-35 percent by volume coffee grounds

can be blended with mineral soils of any type to improve structure of those soils."

My beds aren't "mineral soil," so I use less than 10% coffee grounds, but it sure helps loosen them up. And the grounds release a lot of nitrogen as they decompose: kind of a time-release mechanism.