GARDENER'S READING ROOM
Organic Gardening

Worm Bins

Worm bins are an easy way to create a nutritious treat for your plants and cut down on kitchen waste. All you need to get started is a well-ventilated plastic or wooden box, a pint or 2 of red wigglers, and your leftover salad. A 36"X16"X16" box and 2 pints of red wigglers is well suited for a family of four, composting 3 to 5 pounds of food waste a week.

Be sure to place your worm bin in a place it will get used. Mine sits next to my garbage can. If you have the room, though, you can keep it in your kitchen, pantry, or garage. Worm bins are typically odorless. You can feed your worms vegetable and fruit scraps, pasta, bread, even coffee grounds and filters. No meat or dairy, please! Put several inches of moist bedding (moist peat, leaves, or even shredded paper) in the bin, and bury the food waste in the bedding.

To harvest the nutrient-rich worm castings, just scoot the old bedding to one side of the bin, add new bedding to the other side, and start burying the food scraps in the new side. Wait a day or two for the worms to migrate to the new goodies, then scoop out the old and top dress your plants with it.

To harvest the nutrient-rich worm castings, just scoot the old bedding to one side of the bin, add new bedding to the other side, and start burying the food scraps in the new side. Wait a day or two for the worms to migrate to the new goodies, then scoop out the old and top dress your plants with it.

You will find everything you need to start your worm bin right here at Sky Nursery, except the leftover salad!

By Erich Nordstrom
Skylights Winter/Spring 2001, Vol 15, No. 1

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