If your spooked by worms you should definitely skip this post!
Robert gave me such a great Christmas gift this year, a Hungry Bin Continuous Flow Worm Composter, a vermicomposter, with some red wrigglers and worm food from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. Robert set up the worm bin over the Christmas weekend. We had to set it up promptly since the little wiggle buddies needed to acclimate to their new bin home. 500 red worms now live in our laundry room with the hope they will give us a great fertilizer for the coming garden season.
Next week will be about a month since they moved in and so far they have been thriving. The worms have a specific diet of 50% food scraps and 50% fiber (paper/dry leaves). The worms can eat a variety of things. The can eat most fruit and vegetable scraps, pulps from juicer, tea leaves/bags, coffee grounds, crushed/ground eggshells, hair, vacuum cleaner dust, soiled paper, tissue, paper towels, shredded egg cartons, shredded newspaper, cardboard, sawdust (untreated), wood ash, lawn clippings in small quantities, weeds, clippings, prunings, dirt and leaves. Things to avoid feeding them are citrus and acidic fruit skin, bread, pasta and other wheat based products, hard fruit pits, spicy foods, onions, garlic and leeks, animal products such as meat, dairy, or fats and shiny paper. Also do not feed rotten food to your worms. They eat about half their weight in one day. We can use the finished compost from our worm bin in our gardens and the liquid that drains down through the bin, passing through a filter, is also an ideal fertilizer. It is best to dilute the "worm tea" with a ratio of 1 part worm liquid to 10 parts water. What drew me to using the worm bin for compositing was the funnel style of so there is no need to turn the compost. The cats and dog don't seem to mind it ether. Plus, there is hardly a smell so we are able to store it indoors and use the composter year around. The only down side is the size is quite large, about the size of a curbside trash bin and if you squeamish about worms you might want to stick with a compost pile or turning compost bin. So far I am very happy with my new worm buddies. I am so excited to use the compost and "worm tea" with my garden.
Photo was taken by Giuliana Cascardo, 2021. This post content was created by Giuliana Cascardo. All visuals are self taken or created, all writing is original aside from any statistical or historic information which is sourced by external links. Any photos that are not taken or created by Giuliana Cascardo are sourced in photo discription. Nothing in this post is affiliated with any sponsors or commercial work.