Sometimes, I think I do vermicomposting (worms eating my garbage) just because it’s entertaining, though it makes excellent compost and tea for the garden. I don’t think that vermicomposting can process nearly the amount of organic waste that a decently cranking compost pile can.  It also implies a certain amount of fiddling that just piling yer garbage up to rot, does not.  That’s sort of a plus for me but not for everyone.

That said, it’s pretty entertaining to get the system working. It doesn’t take too long before you’ve got a grotesque writhing mass of worms producing a fair amount of very plant-friendly by-products. The kids get a kick out of it (EW!  WORMS!), and after you get in the groove, it’s no harder than feeding the cat, really.

Well, maybe a little harder.  Still, what good’s a cat?

So, here’s the cheap man’s guide to small-scale vermicomposting:

Take some of those small rectangular tupperware storage boxes (the ones that have a lid and are about 2.5′x1.5′ or so. If you wanna go really small-scale, just use two. One will be the pee-catcher, and one will hold the worms. Drill 3/8″ holes all over the bottom of the worm holder. Towards the top, drill 3/4″ holes for air. Put that bucket into the un-drilled one. Voila! Vermicomposter!

Now you need worms. You have several options.

Ask your friend who vermicomposts for a handful.  Tell him how cool he is and how you admire his ecological consciousness.  Tell him he looks like he’s losing weight… has he been working out?

If that doesn’t work, the cheapest way to get them and one that has always worked for me is to make a little mini-compost pile (including nice gooey kitchen scraps, and in my experience, egg shells) in your yard on top of soil. You don’t want it to get hot so keep it relatively small. Otherwise, make it like a normal compost pile. Keep it covered and damp. Wait…

OK, it’s a week later. Dig through that little pile. Are there reddish (as opposed to the fat pink ones) worms crawling frantically around in there? Voila! Worms! Don’t worry about including some other worms or whatever. The worm situation will straighten itself out.  Do try to keep ants out.  I hate ants.

If those two options don’t work, call your local fishing store and ask if they have “red wigglers” for bait– specifically Eisenia foetida. Not nightcrawlers. Buy a bucket from them.

All else fails, you can always buy them mail order or from Craig’s List. I must admit, I bristle at the thought of buying worms for $20/1000 or whatever. They live in the ground almost everywhere. Still, might be worth it just to get it done.  I tend to fart around for hours to save $20– just on principle.

Finally, shred up some newspaper in the worm holder (or my latest favorite, coconut coir) and get it damp (again, don’t sweat the moisture level, it’ll straighten itself out). I mix in some coffee grounds and whatever’s handy from the kitchen waste. Dump in your worms. You, my friend, are vermicomposting.  Ideally, you let the food rot a bit, but we’re trying to simplify this whole thing to what it really is– worms eating garbage.  It’s not rocket science.

Yes, I’m reusing this picture.  Otherwise, there weren’t going to be any.  Note worms and bucket.

Now, the tough part about getting going, I find, is that you need to slowly ramp up the rate that you feed the little buggers. Firstly, there aren’t that many for a couple of months. They just don’t eat that much individually. After you see that you’ve got a lot in there– they breed like crazy if they’re happy, you can add more stuff. For a small box, though, a couple of cups of stuff each week is about all they can handle. You might get up to a couple of pounds a week if you get a good population going and maybe two bins (they just stack on top of each other).

Eventually, after several weeks or months, the thing gets full of worm turds (gets dark brown), and they don’t really like that much. You’ll probly know when it’s time.  This is really the best part, and you’ll wanna “harvest” that for your garden. This is where you can use another tub or just work with the one you have.

If you decide to go for another tub, prepare it like the other one holding the worms (just start over with the holes, the newspaper or coir, etc.) and stick the old one into that one to make a little stack.  Now, stop feeding the poopy one and put a little food into the new one. I usually manually move a particularly wiggly clod of worms from the upper one to the lower one.

Eventually, many of the worms will migrate down into the cleaner bin. Give it a week or so.   You can help them decide to move by leaving the lid off the top one for a while and stirring up the contents now and then.  Worms don’t like light.  Soon, the lower bucket should be populated and you can take the top one and dump the contents on your garden beds.  Don’t worry about losing a few worms– by now there’s thousands of them in your bucket.  The escapees will either get eaten by birds or carry on with their wormy business in your garden.

If you’d rather just have one bucket, you can move them horizontally. Move the poopy bedding over to one side. Prepare the other side with fresh bedding and some food. Again, you can help the process by keeping the old side exposed to light and covering the new side.  Give that a couple of days. Again, eventually, most of the worms will go over there. Pull out the dung-laden stuff and spread the clean stuff back out.

That’s about it. Now and then, I re-wet the bedding and extract the brown juice from the bottom (no holes) bucket, dilute it with some collected rainwater and water some plants.  They seem to absolutely love the stuff.  These days, I use mostly compost, worm juice, and a fish emulsion/kelp blend for any regular fertilizing.  I only even use my special Steve Solomon blend of seed meal and stuff when I prepare a bed for new planting, and if I think it could use a boost, which isn’t often.

There ya go.  Let me know if you have questions or think I’m missing something.

UNLAWFUL EDIT:

Fine.  I took some more pictures.  Jeez, you people. Note the artful stacking. Note the high-tech stand. That’s pretty advanced. Don’t try that without certification, which I offer for… let’s say… $500.

And since I was out there:

The daily egg haul.  We’ve done four a day for probably a week or so.  Yes, that’s three.  The brownies all lay together.  The Ameraucana is pretty much a loner and hangs out and lays by herself.  She’s just weird.

I’ve noticed that the lonely fig has a whole bunch of younger siblings lately.  I’m told that that’s called a “bump” in fig lingo.

I had no idea how many red currants a red currant plant puts out.  Had I known, I maybe wouldn’t have planted three of them.  Looks like it’s time to build a frame for those guys, otherwise, the fruit’s going to drag them right onto the ground.

Finally, I was very happy to see that my new Maypop has survived and is flowering.  I replaced a blue passion vine with this cuz you can’t eat the fruit from the blue vine.  I tried to be OK with that.  Didn’t work out.

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