Worm Composting by PaulaWalla

Wow! I took a look in the worm bin today and it’s almost all vermicast and worms. Now the worms are looking a little sluggish and some have lightened at one end – you can see in the photo a worm with a yellowish end (tail? head?) at the top.

worm with light tail (or head?)

Maybe they’re not getting enough food since the only thing left is some matted wet paper and eggshells. I added some nicely chopped up potato peels and banana peel for them. I probably should have removed the vermicast but I’m not sure quite how without completely disturbing the worms. There’s lots in there I can use though. Maybe I’ll just remove some a little at a time. I put the whole bin outside, by the way, due to those pesky gnatty flies. I may just let my outdoor compost finish and add new stuff only to the worm bin for the next few months.

vermicompost

Oh, side note!  In my outdoor compost pile I had thrown some old organic potatoes thinking they might just grow in there. They are! See their nice green leaves below!

organic potatoes growing in compost

Thanks, Ann, for the potatoes!

Hmm there are now some tiny gnat-like flies – like fruit flies in / around my wormcomposting bin. Not sure what to do about them. I’ve been squashing them with my rubber gloves but it’s probably a losing battle.  Are the bin contents too wet?  Or maybe they like vermicast? I can’t imagine that’s it… will have to investigate.

The amount of kitchen waste and newspaper is decreasing as they are turned into compost (really vermicast). I took a look and you can see the good dark brown / black vermicast in the mix if you dig a little. See photos. I filled in with some more food – see the peas? – and added more damp newspaper. I think I’ll be able to start the second layer in the next few weeks and just need the worms to be able to physically get up to the second level.

worm compost settling under newspaper

Vermicast among the kitchen scraps, sawdust and paper

more kitchen scraps added - orange peels, peas and more

I also mixed around my outdoor compost yesterday. I took out the best, most finished compost to use on the garden. The rest I’ll let finish. I loosely divided the pile into two sections: on the left, the newer, least decomposed materials; on the right, the batch that’s closer to finished. So I’ll be sure to add new kitchen and garden waste to the left side of the pile, hoping that the right side will finish up.

Well, I took a better look in the worm bin today to see what’s going on under the layers and found some interesting things!

1. Baby worms! I’m sure I saw some new tiny worms. If conditions are favorable enough for reproduction, it bodes well for good compost.
2. Some great compost – looks just like rich, dark soil. Perfect!!!

I threw in a couple cups of old chopped lettuce, and buried it under the bedding. I’m not sure how much more to put in this bin, as the point of the multi-bin system is to start another one before the first one is done. I guess I could start the next one any time, but will probably wait till more of the first bin is compost – or technically, vermicast (solely worm castings – pure gold for gardeners).

On the gardening front, today is the first day of Spring, three days after the day when you can plant peas outdoors, according to the Old Farmers’ Almanac. So, after turning the outdoor compost today I planted my first short row of peas! Six seeds spaced about 4 inches apart. Next weekend I’ll plant another six or so. I’ve never really tried spacing my plantings out time-wise to extend the harvest, but I’m excited to try it. Usually I’m just so relieved to get my seeds and seedlings in the ground that I don’t bother planing again a week later. But this year, I’m motivated!

Last year, all my spring pea seeds moldered in the ground due to a very wet season. And my late fall planting started out well and then somebody ate ALL the seedlings! If I ever catch the varmint, he’ll hear about it. I got NO peas last year!! This year will be different if I have to grow them indoors under a sunlamp!

Is he the culprit?

Tea, anyone?

There seems to be quite a bit of moisture on the inside lid of the bin, and a small amount of fuzzy white stuff on the bottom of the bin, but since there’s a catch basin at the bottom I’m not too worried about it. Water is one of the natural bi-products of the worms doing their work.  I was able to pour off my first bit of compost tea!  (Nutrient-rich liquid produced by water going through compost) It measured about a quarter of a cup and was not a dark liquid yet, but I’m sure it has some good nutrients in it. I diluted it with about half a cup of filtered water and used it to water the houseplants on my kitchen windowsill. Let’s see if the plants like it!

This photo is NOT of my compost tea – it’s actually a Bodum Yo-Yo Tea glass that I sell on my website PaulaWalla.com, shown with people-tea in it.

I’m going back to my reference book to make sure I’m doing this right.

I can confirm now that the worms seem to be doing their job!  More little bits of dirt-looking stuff is falling through the bin holes into the catch basin, and with the level of the damp paper and other contents of the bin starting to decrease, I am sure things are going well!  As the worms grow and multiply I guess I’ll be able to put in more kitchen waste, as I’m still taking more trips out to the outdoor compost pile than I’d like to (since it’s winter). I’m going to add more damp newspaper today to build up the level so there’s more room to bury the next container-full of kitchen waste. PS – I did add another full container of food waste before topping it all off with a load of new damp newspaper shred.

I rescued two worms from the top and four from the bottom today. Put them all back in where the food is. And then I buried one full container of chopped up celery. (I had a nice bunch of celery that I apparently left in the fridge too long – it all had to be cut up for composting.) I hope they like celery!

Over the last few days I’ve been checking every so often for worms out of place.  They seem to like the bottom catch basin best for some reason, or they just fall down there and can’t get back up. Next time I’ll put more whole sheets of damp newspaper right across the bottom so this doesn’t keep happening.

Also, I added another bin of kitchen waste – my kitchen scrap containers are about 6″ diameter by maybe 2″ deep. They seem to fill up pretty fast. I don’t think I have enough worms to feed them as much as we’re making yet, so I’ve been taking most of it out to the outside compost pile. But I did add one bin full yesterday – it weighed about 3/4 of a pound. (See photo – mostly coffee grounds, some cucumber, lettuce and tomato leavings – maybe some egg shells underneath too)

I have found in the bottom catch basin that some little bits of what look like dirt are starting to filter down there just a little bit.  I assume that means the kitchen waste I put in last week is slowly being converted to vermicast and some crumbs of it are falling through. That’s a good sign!

I took another look today under the lid – no worms, good; and in the bin underneath – five worms!  I got them all back into the bin with the food and stuff in it.  Not sure why they keep going through the little holes at the bottom of the bin… I guess they’re not the brightest creatures.   I can’t tell if much is going on inside the bin though, looks the same. The paper on top is still damp, so I think that’s a good sign.

I was just informed by someone in the know that onions are a no-no in a worm bin, so out they go to the outdoor compost pile. Weather be darned.