Gourmet Houseplant Food Comes Home: Our Soft Launch at City Tower

We’ve traded our shovels and muddy boots for presentable clothes and display banners. A few weeks ago the BrewCycle crew took over The Shed, the presentation space in the lobby of City Tower at Piccadilly Gardens, for the soft launch of our gourmet houseplant food.

It felt like a homecoming. Some of the coffee grounds we’ve been collecting from City Tower came back to the building, only now they’re a tidy pouch of worm poo gourmet houseplant food. The grounds went to our worms, the worms did what worms do, and the result went back to where it started.

Had to wipe our boots before entering

A very different office to our usual one

Our normal workplace has wormeries, compost bunkers and a lot of wheelbarrows. A corporate lobby in the middle of Manchester is a change of scenery. Nobody asked us to scoop anything, which was a relief.

We spent the day chatting to people on their way in and out. Most had never thought about what happens to a coffee cup’s worth of grounds. We explained how BrewCycle upcycles coffee waste and creates opportunities for people who’ve been left behind. We also explained why worm castings are so good for houseplants.

Gourmet houseplant food in your own watering can

Our gourmet houseplant food is a do-it-yourself worm casting tea. Empty the pouch into a watering can, top it up with water, and leave it overnight, giving it a stir when you pass. In the morning, pour it over your houseplants, dregs and all.

That overnight soak wakes up the microbial life in the castings, and that’s what helps your houseplant soil come back to life. It’s not for drinking, whatever the word “tea” suggests. It’s strictly for plants.

Keeping your plants fed all year

A few people asked whether they could just have a pouch turn up regularly. You can: we offer a monthly subscription that delivers a packet to your door, so your plants stay well fed while you do some good for Manchester. Every pouch supports BrewCycle, a not-for-profit project.

From Muck & Brass to what comes next

The launch grew out of our work on Muck & Brass, our community vermicomposting pilot. In it, people on probation collect coffee grounds and cardboard from local businesses and feed them to the wormeries. The compost then goes into growing food for the community. Selling gourmet houseplant food is a new way of keeping that loop going and bringing the story to people who’ve never seen a wormery.

Muck & Brass is a pilot, which means we’re still learning what works. The City Tower conversations told us plenty. We’re now looking at how to scale up and play a bigger part in Greater Manchester’s Everyday Economy, and we’ll share more as it takes shape.

Thank you to everyone who stopped to say hello, and to the team at The Shed for having us. If you missed us, you can still pick up a pouch of gourmet houseplant food and see what the fuss is about.

Muck & Brass is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. Thank you to everyone who plays.