Planning a Vegetable Garden

Posts Tagged ‘Compost’

Worm composting is a great way to add worm castings to your garden.  And just why do you want to add worm castings?  Because they feed the plants and the soil organically.

What is Worm Composting?

Worm composting (also called vermicomposting) is when worms turn your kitchen scraps into a super soil conditioner and plant fertilizer.  Worm composting can be done anywhere where the temperature is moderate and the bin isn’t in direct sunlight (in warm climates).  You don’t want to cook your worms!  (Nor do you want to freeze them.) 

The best termperature for your hard-working worms is between 55 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  You don’t want the bin temperature to go below 50 or over 88 degrees Fahrenheit.  This may mean you need to put the bin inside your home in a spare corner.

Worms are amazing; they can eat almost their own body weight a day.  Naturally you won’t have just a few worms; 500 is a good number to start with.  More if you generate a lot of kitchen scraps every day.

Once worms eat the kitchen scraps, they digest it and excrete it as worm castings.  These worm castings are a fantastic addition to your garden soil!

Worm Compost Trays

If you want to get started with worm composting, you’ll need some trays, worms and worm bedding.  The worm bedding can be anything organic, like coir, shredded newspaper (black and white only; no color printing), sawdust, hay, dried leaves — anything to mimic the worm’s natural environment.  The bedding should be very slightly moist, but not wet.

Add the kitchen scraps (shredded or chopped a bit so they are easier for the worms to eat) and let the worms have at it!  Soon you’ll have glorious worm casting compost to add to your garden.

What Kind of Worms?

Red wrigglers are the best worms for vermicomposting.  You can try a local bait shop or you can order them online, to be shipped to you.

Getting Started

I found a great article on worm composting to explain all the ins and outs.

You might have an organic garden shop near to you that carries worm composting supplies; if you do — great!  Get your trays, worms and bedding and you’re all set.

If you don’t have anywhere locally to get your worms, here are some ideas below.

Happy worm composting!

A compost tumbler is an excellent idea if you don’t have the yard space for a compost bin (or just don’t want a compost bin).  Tumblers can give you plenty of sweet-smelling compost for your vegetable garden, with vitually none of the toil of a traditional bin.

How a Compost Tumbler Works

So, how do these tumblers work, and how long does it take to turn organic matter into rich compost?  What makes it easier than a standard compost bin?

A tumbler can either be flipped end-over-end (vertically) or horizontally in a rotating drum, depending on how it’s designed.  Here’s how it works.

Load organic matter (lawn clippings, leaves, sawdust, wood shavings, kitchen scraps, etc.) into the tumbler, usually until it’s 3/4 full.  Some tumblers recommend that you also add a small amount of compost bacteria (usually in a powder form) to get it all started.  Dampen the matter in the bin, but don’t get it soaking wet.

Then, it’s just a matter of  rotating the tumbler a few times each day.  Depending on the temperature, you can have finished compost in 4 to 8 weeks.  (Warmer weather lets the compost “cook” faster.)

Once you take all the compost out of the tumbler (there is a handy door for this), you can load it again and work on your next batch.

Advantages

For best results, compost piles should be turned a few times every couple days.  With a bin, this means using a shovel or pitchfork to move the compost around.  A compost tumbler lets you do it far more easily; just rotate the tumbler a few times.

Disadvantages

The majority of compost tumblers are meant to be loaded all at once, not a little bit here and a little bit there.  That means you need to have all your “ingredients” ready to load.  This may mean that you have to save up the kitchen scraps, which can get somewhat aromatic if you don’t have the storage container tightly sealed.  Of course, you don’t need to put in kitchen scraps, but it is part of the whole recycling idea.

Cost

Compost tumblers range from around $150 to $500, much of which depends on the capacity of the tumbler (the larger the tumbler, the higher the price).  However, you can make compost year around, a batch at a time.  In the winter, you’ll want to protect your tumbler, though, so that the ingredients don’t freeze up.

With minimal care, a compost tumber should last you years, and can pay for itself quickly with wonderfully rich compost for your vegetable garden.

Where to Get Tumblers

Here’s a list of some compost tumblers for you to check out (they are one of my favorite suppliers).