Compost

We eat a lot of eggs and drink a lot of coffee in our house. With everything going into the compost bin it got me thinking if the eggs were shifting it too alkaline, or the coffee was shifting it too acidic.

From my research it doesn't seem like either of these will greatly affect the finished compost, and they are both great for your garden.

If your compost or soil is too acidic eggshells will break down and neutralize it, but they stop as soon as there is not enough acid to break them down any more. I grind mine up in the blender and compost them all. If they don't dissolve the worms will eventually use them as grit, making the calcium bioavailable.

Coffee ground have most of the acid washed out with the coffee making process.

Pine needles are also thought to make soil more acidic, but it seem this is a myth as well. The compost process takes care of the acidic level naturally.

The only thing you might want to avoid is putting egg shells on plants that enjoy acidic soils. I am going to try using the bokashi tea on my blueberries to raise the acidic levels, see if it makes a difference.