Vermiculture

My 5-year-old granddaughter was lamenting our family's lack of animals: “What happened to your kitty?” “Where did the chickens go?” “You mean you don't have ANY animals anymore?” "No, none, Sweetie." But, alas, I forgot to tell her about the WORM BIN.

For over a year and a half I have had a worm bin so that we can transmorph (is that a word?) transform our food scraps into a healthy soil additive. Worm castings, as they're called, are a great addition to the garden or even to your houseplants. There is no odor, just nice (mushy in our case) dirt.

It doesn't take much to start a worm bit, either. You can keep it outside, like I do, or in the garage or under the sink in the house. Whatever works for you. Here are the ingredients for a simple bin of your own. 

1. Plastic storage bin with ¼” holes drilled on the bottom and up the sides
2. Newspaper, torn into 1” strips (give or take), enough to fill the plastic storage bin
3. Food scraps (No meat/dairy, and it's said egg shells and citrus peels are no-no's.)
4. Red wigglers (worms) available at fishing stores, other people's worm bins, or special wormeries.

Place food scraps at bottom of your bin. Fill bin with dry newspaper. Pour water in until paper is damp but not soggy. Place worms in bin, preferably in the middle of the newspapers about halfway down. They will go toward all the food scraps at the bottom.

To maintain, add food scraps regularly, about once a week. Add newspaper strips and dampen when level of paper becomes low.

To harvest worm castings: Push all materials (food scraps, castings, worms, newspaper) to one side of plastic bin. Fill remaining side with fresh food scraps and newspaper strips. The worms will migrate in a week or 2, when food on the “old” side of the bin runs out.

What to do with harvest: Side dress plants in your garden; apply lightly over entire garden area; add to potted plants for nutritional boost and added organic matter.