Coffee Grounds in the Garden

The Lodge was renovated before we moved in and to give us a patch of garden, our landlord kindly planted these little fir trees:

 As you can see, some of them are feeling a bit sorry for themselves and they're all not quite tall enough to give us any privacy in the garden. So I'm trying to grow these little beauties into a garden hedge without spending any money on fancy fertiliser etc.

My first port of call is coffee grounds, which apparently contain nitrogen, as well as smaller quantities of magnesium, calcium, potassium and other trace minerals. See this article from The Gardening Channel for some of their uses.

I have been saving mine up this week, but I think when I'm next in a town with a Starbucks, I may need to pop in for some of their giveaway grounds, as this little pot probably won't be enough to spurt the growth of my little fir trees!

I have measured some trees as part of this highly scientific experiment (!) to test the benefit of coffee grounds, so watch this space for a tree update.

What do you use to help your garden grow?