Salwa Collings

Yes, a birdbath, and I’m planning a small pond.

Thank you for all your suggestions. My sawdust is really more like fine chips, a mixture of woods- I’m not sure what but I’m pretty certain it doesn’t contain a lot of pine. I get it from a guy who chops logs for firewood. I didn’t use it last winter, I just used chopped leaves, but I have used it quite a lot this last summer and it seemed not to be a problem.
I guess I’ll just use a thin layer of my sawdust and coffee mix and try to add other stuff - I just have a shortage of compost and don’t want to have to spend a lot of money buying it! (And my supplies of coffee grounds and sawdust are pretty much unlimited!)

I’m looking for a good free mulch to build my soil over winter. I have access to large quantities of spent coffee grounds (both my daughters work at Dunkin!) and sawdust from untreated wood. Also some leaves. I’m thinking of mixing them as mulch. However, last year i mulched a small area with shredded leaves and coffee grounds and nothing grew well there this summer. The top layer did not decompose by spring, although the layer underneath looked great and was full of worms. I have read a few different things about coffee grounds, so I’m wondering if they might have caused the problem. Does anybody have any experience with this?