I mentioned before that I don’t have a compost bin.  That isn’t 100% true.  We have a worm bin instead.  It is coming up on almost a year since we started the bin and after a number of months of trial and error I finally am getting the hang of this.

Being the frugal gardener I am I didn’t go out and purchase a fancy worm bin.  That would be too easy (and not to mention expensive).  I did some internet searches and found a few ideas.  The one I went with is courtesy of WSU Whatcom County Extension.  Honestly, is there anything a county extension office doesn’t know?

The gist of the whole thing is to get yourself two 8-10 gallon Rubbermaid containers.  Drill a bunch of holes, insert shredded newspaper bedding, a little bit of soil and some worms.  Feed the worms regularly and viola!  Instant (or not so instant) vermicompost.  And if you want to be super frugal you can collect the worms right out of your own garden.  I went the easy route and purchased mine from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm.  He had a great price, and I do believe he takes paypal.

However, like I mentioned, it took me months to get it right.  The first week I had the bin I dumped loads of vegetable peels, scraps and the like into the bin.  I just wanted to make my worms happy.  I had done lots of research on how to do this and thought I was doing it all correctly.  What I failed to realized was that I only had about 250 worms and worms are small.  They may be voracious eaters, but they are still small.

Within a few weeks my bin was over run with gnats.  And ohh how I hate gnats.  In fact I have one flying around my office that is tormenting me to no end.  Tried as I might I could not get rid of the gnats.  My bin was also a wet soggy mess… resulting in worm loss and proliferation of more gnats.  I would try leaving the lid off in the warm sun for hours.  The gnats didn’t go away and it just baked my little worms.  In an effort to sop up some of the moisture I emptied my shredder bin into my worm bin and mixed it in with the little vermicompost I did get.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I had sent credit cards through the shredder until it was too late.  (I still deal with little bits of plastic).  I was about ready to give up on the whole endeavor.

We went away for the summer, school started, then the snow started.  All the while I neglected my little worms.  No fresh bedding, no new food.  I was sure that the prolonged cold we’d experienced would put an end to my little friends.  At some point in February I took the lid off of the bin hoping I could at least salvage a little bit of vermicompost.  To my surprise my worms were still alive… and hungry.  So I started feeding them.

Here’s what I do that works.

1. I keep my worm box in the garage.  I put it on the lid for the other Rubbermaid container and elevated by two pieces of 2×2.  This lets the worm tea collect in the tray below.  I empty the tray in the warmer months and put the tea on various stuff in the garden.
2. I always have a 3-4″ layer of moist shredded newspaper on top of the worms.  If it starts to get a little thin I add more.  I think the newspaper is vital.
3. I bury the “food” deep in the vermicompost.  Covering up as much food as possible helps to keep the gnats away.
4. I never ever put any moldy food into the bin.  If it sits in the bucket in the house too long and gets moldy it goes in to the trash.
5. Once a week (or less often) I take all of the bits out of my inside bin and run them through the Cuisinart to chop them up in to a fine food mash.  That is what I bury under the verimcompost and newspaper.  I have some non-chopped food in the bin right now and it has been there for weeks.  They are very slow at breaking things down.

The bin I have inside was purchased in the kitchen section of IKEA.  It has a lid, sits next to the garbage can and works quite nicely.  I peel vegetables onto a paper towel and throw the whole pile into the holding bin (paper towel and all, the towel helps absorb moisture so mold doesn’t grow).  I wash the inside bin out once a month or so.

This is a great project to do with children.  It helped my son get over his fear of worms.  He asks almost every day if we can go feed the worms.  This way he sees that we don’t waste anything and that is a good thing.