Composting

Worm Composting Tips

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“This is a fascinating, fun, and easy way to recycle your organic kitchen wastes. Worm composting, or vermiculture, requires very little work, produces no offensive odors, and helps plants thrive. Only a few things are needed to make good worm compost: a bin, bedding, worms, and worm food.” Worm Composting - Earth911.org

Author: Duong Vicki

You may have heard of Cesar Milan, also known as the Dog Whisperer, but are you familiar with Vern Culteur the Worm Whisperer? Unlike his canine counterpart, Culteur is well versed and in tune with the ways of the worm and its needs for a successful and fruitful compost. Compost, you say? What in the world does a worm have to do with composting? Well, my friend let me tell you more…

According to Culteur, known to his friends as Verny the Wormy, worms play a vital part in the composting process. In fact, there’s an entire composting process called vermicomposting or vermiculture which involves food scraps, yard wastes and worms. When visiting troubled gardeners and composters alike, Culteur adamantly but gently tells each one that if they’re going to start composting with worms, then they’ll have to adapt to a few changes. For instance, one of the first mistakes that many novice composters make is using the wrong worm.

“Recycling the organic waste of a household into compost allows us to return badly needed organic matter to the soil. In this way, we participate in nature’s cycle, and cut down on garbage going into burgeoning landfills…..The great advantage of worm composting is that this can be done indoors and outdoors, thus allowing year round composting. It also provides apartment dwellers with a means of composting.” Cityfarmer.org

Earth worms, though commonly found in the soil of any backyard and along sidewalks on rainy days, make for great fishing bait but not for worm composting. The reason, Culteur explains, is that even though earth worms aerate the soil they don’t properly digest the organic matter and produce worm castings, which is what’s needed for composting. “The best worms to use in the composting world are red wiggler worms,” says Culteur. “Night crawlers work well, also, but they don’t tend to survive for long in too damp of an environment. You’d be better off with red wigglers.”

Culteur also mentions that in order to ensure a successful composting experience, you’ll have to keep your worms happy, which means you have to regularly feed them. “Things like banana peels, chopped up vegetable stalks and leaves, in addition to some grit like a cup full of soil and some newspaper strips will keep your worms feeding and wanting for more.” After a few weeks, you’re most certainly guaranteed to have rich, black gold known as worm castings to add to your garden’s soil. Before concluding, Culteur made sure to add, “Unlike dogs, you won’t have to maintain who’s the boss in this relationship; your worms will be the hardiest of workers!”

“I’ve never been a big fan of bugs, spiders, worms and other small creatures. I don’t go out of my way to step on them or anything, but I usually prefer that they live in their world and I live in mine, and hopefully, never the two shall meet. I know that they have their place in the food chain and they are beneficial in many ways, but I’d usually rather not invite them into my home. EXCEPT, when having them around will reduce waste, create wonderful organic matter, and generally benefit the environment and my garden.” - Worm Compost - A Recycling Revolution

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