Worm composting
Posted on Jul 18, 2008 under Compost, Gardening |
If you want good soil for your vegetable garden, flower beds or potted plants, without having to pay for it, composting is what you should do. I’ve had a big compost bin standing in my garden for quite a while and it does a great job, but it takes ages to turn my kitchen scraps into good compost. These big compost bins rely on bacteria to break down the scraps and they will take between 6 months and a year before you can use the compost.
Worms however can compost a lot faster. While digging in my garden I found a good number of worms which I have added to my compost bin to speed things up. When I recently decided to move my compost bin however, I found no worms in it. After a few weeks of hot and dry weather the worms all dug down into the soil beneath the bin and where gone.
If you want to compost with worms, which is also called vermicomposting, you need a different kind of compost bin. A worm bin will have a closed bottom, so the worms can’t get out. You do have to drill a couple of holes into the bottom, so excess water can get out. You can use any type of plastic bin for worm composting, but ideally it will have a matching lid. Worms breath like all animals so you need to make sure they get enough air. A few slits or holes in the side of your bin will take care of the air circulation, but you want to cover them up with some screening to keep flies out.
Fill your bin about half way with moist newspaper or cardboard strips and add a layer of soil. If you have a compost bin you can probably find some worms in there or you can do some digging in your garden. You can also go the easy way and buy some composting worms in a garden center or order them online.
Keep your worm bin out of the sun and make sure it stays moist. The worms will accept temperatures between 10 and 30 degrees centigrade but will do best at around 25 degrees. Be careful not to overfeed the worms or your worm bin will start smelling bad. Don’t add any scraps until the last batch has been eaten completely and always burry the scraps you are adding. In time you will get a feel for the amount of scraps your worm bin can process.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I love composting! Where did you get your worms? I hear Red Wigglers are the best. They work great for fishing as well. I love multi-functional projects.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Yes, the red wigglers are supposed to be the best worms for the job. I got my worms from digging in the garden. Not exactly sure what kind they are, but as far as I can tell I have about 4 different species. We’ll see which ones do best in the composting business.