Welcome to the Wiggler Ranch! The DH recently began four vermiculture worm bins in our garage.
We feed the worms about once a week (or less, depending on how active they are). These are some well-fed worms! In this meal: Spanish radish, chard stalks, squash peel and spent tea leaves. Food artistry by the DH. ;-)
Plus a healthy dose of radish tops and other greens.
Feeding is simple...open the worm bin and nudge down any worm trying to escape. Dig a hole, and dump in the food. Cover with soil. Done!
There is no negative smell associated with the worm bins, just the nice smell of fresh earth. The worms aren't quite yet consuming all of our compostables, so the rest go to the garden in a direct-compost method. The DH digs deep holes into garden pathways, and adds the compost there. The worms gobble it up quickly.
Do you compost? If so, tell me your tips!
I have the wire to create an outdoor compost bin (the kind where you have to turn everything with a pitchfork or whatever) but found our wire cutters aren't up to the task, so I must get new ones before this spring and get it set up! One day, I'd love to hear how the vermicultured compost performs for you and the DH in your garden. And I do use spent tea leaves on my rose bushes!
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in this. A friend had quite a wonderful system of vermiculture going on in her living room!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a worm farm, but I do add worms to my garden, along with natural soil embellishments and coffee and tea grounds (Starbucks gives away large bags of coffee grounds just for gardeners). Composting is complicated in my dry climate. I have a beautiful, rotating composter (metal; on a stand with small holes in it) but our climate is so dry that instead of composting everything just dries out. Our best method is to dig holes in the ground for compost and then to add straw to the top to hold the moisture in.
I would like to try a worm farm...
PS: There is a "worm farm" near us --- a commercial one, mostly for the sale of worms to fishermen, I think. They also sell fantastic Mexican food, so locals go to the "Worm Farm" for the best burritos in town! It doesn't sound to appealing, does it! Locals have said that they sometimes meet famous, Hollywood types there at lunchtime upon occasion. B*uce W*ll*s comes to mind. Only in the wild west!
ReplyDeleteHey, that's really cool!!! Good to know they can live in the garage.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness...tell your DH that his niece will be ecstatic when she comes to visit if he will let her play with the worms! :)
ReplyDeleteI also think this is a really great idea. My cousin has been doing this with great success...I think she has two different species of worm co-existing.
ReplyDeleteI used to compost when I lived in DE. I had a massive yard so I just had an outdoor compost heap hidden in some dense, wild shrubbery. Now I live in the city and I don't compost, and I don't like it.
I wish large apartment buildings offered composting or that there was a city-sponsored way to compost. It seems pretty backwards that in our supposedly advanced society we still throw out so much compostable waste, and then we are using costly synthetic fertilizers to grow our crops.