I have started down the wiggily, crawly gooey path of worm composting. Which means that in my office I have 3 worm bins sitting where I can keep an eye on them and check out every day just what is going on with my wiggily friends. The first couple of days they seemed to want to get out of the bins and wonder around the office, unfortunatly if I didn't see them in time that kind of activity meant a slow death as they dryed out. But I am pleased to say that they have settled down and accepted their new home. And I am learning just what worms like to eat and what they dont like. These guys are just not all that fond of potato peelings or carrot peelings, but toss some green stuff in to them like lettuce or bits of celery and they really get excited and proceed to make slimy goop out it.
And it seems they are really coffee hounds, sprinkle some used coffee grounds in to them and it dissappears in just two or three days. Which reminds me, I will have to get some sort of tray to set these bins on as they are starting to leak 'worm tea' out the bottom. Which is a really good thing as worm tea is an excellent fertilizer for a wide varitiey of plants. It is a living fertilizer that can not only provide the nutrients plants need directly, but also help make the soil itself into a living thing that is much more willing to give up its nutrients to plants.
And then of course there's the castings from the worms, which, to put it rather directly is the worm poop. This is really good stuff. As with worm tea it is a living compost full of all the good bacteria and microbes soil needs to grow plants.
One final word on worms, the bins in my office have been here over a month now and they are really starting to 'work'. I'm seeing worm castings start to accumulate and worm tea starting to seep out of the bottom and these bins have never smelled. I expected they would smell like the garbage can under the sink when it's been left too long on a summers day. But, nope, not a wiff of garbage, the only thing I can ever smell is a composty, dirt smell, which, being a gardener I dont mind at all.
I have been told that worm bins can go outside in all weathers, that in the winter when it gets really cold, like below freezing you just have to make sure the little beastys are kept from actually freezing. So then the bins should be up against the south side of a building, or, if it gets really cold the bins can be covered like you would a plant to keep it from suffering freeze damage. But I have to admit I have kept these 3 bins in my office because it was cold outside and I felt bad about shoving the worms outside so soon after I got them, but, now that the weather is warming up a bit I'm thinking I should find a spot outside for them to live.
Or, maybe I can find an empty apt to put them, nobody would mind them in an empty apt and there the tempurature would be even throughout the seasons. Or, maybe I'll just keep them in my office and fix up a leak proof tray under them. They aren't really doing any harm on the other side of the room, and it's not like they play loud music or have wild parties over there.
Stay tuned to see where the worms wind up.
