I have learnt that coffee grinds are high on nitrogen and also contain other small ammounts of minerals, so instead of throwing our coffee grinds in the bin I either put them in the composter or scatter them around the flower and veg beds.

I always put them on the compost heap.

It has been suggested that slugs and snails don't like them - but I haven't seen anything to qualify that. I also picked up from somewhere that coffee grounds constantly 'fed' to a pink-but-once-blue hydrangea will keep it blue. Nope!

Thanks everybody

They're very mildly acidifying, and putting them on the ground does at least get rid of them...

does that mean it would be very use full around around azaleas

Well, in theory yes, but in practice, you need an awful lot of them to truly acidify the soil. Certainly won't do any harm though, if you don't mind the look of them.

I know of someone who swears coffee grounds keep slugs away from hostas. I've never tried it myself but I'm passing on the information

We find them very useful around here, since we have such strongly alkaline soil, but I would be leary of them in acid soil, and cautious about putting them in pots.