|
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
Composting With Worms
Earthworms and organic gardening: Composting with worms, also known as vermicomposting will provide you with the best possible nutrients for your gardening.
Here are some tips for using worms to clear out your kitchen waste.
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
Vermi What?
The technical term for using worms to eat your waste is vermicomposting or vermiculture.
It is using worms – red wigglers usually – in addition to microbes and bacteria to turn your organic waste into a nutrient rich fertilizer.
You find a container much like the one on the left and then give your little wrigglers the same organic waste –
everything organic except for meat and fruit rinds – that you would normally put in your compost pile.
The end product (okay, worm poop) is your vermicompost.
Start composting with worms, and you'll soon have an excellent fertilizer that is far richer than ordinary compost.
That's because in addition to clearing away your kitchen scraps and giving off nutrients in the process,
worms also give off a mucus that will actually prevent these wonderful nutrients from washing away with the next watering.
These nutrients will stick to your soil right where your plants can reach them. What could be better?
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
Composting Versus Vermicomposting
With regular composting, you just toss everything into a pile.
However, with vermicomposting, you will need a special container that provides both drainage and air flow.
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
Finding the Best Container
You will need a container that will provide your worms with bedding (made from an organic matter), and organic waste.
You could layer them in a single container.
For example: bedding first, then the worms, and then the organic matter.
The problem with this is when it's time to harvest the end result, you will have to dump the worms out as well as the compost.
We're talking sifting through the compost to find the worms and return them to the bin, which is time consuming.
A better alternative is a composter with several compartments in it. Put your bedding in the bottom compartment.
Then add the worms and then the organic matter.
When the bottom compartment is full, then start adding organic waste to the next compartment.
When the worms have eaten through all the waste in the bottom compartment, they will migrate upwards to the next compartment.
It will then be much easier to harvest the compost from the bottom drawer.
What few stragglers you find left in the bottom drawer you can add to the next compartment up.
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
The Right Bedding
When composting with worms, you will need bedding that resembles what they would have in nature.
Use shredded newspaper, dead leaves, sawdust, hay, cardboard, burlap coffee sacks or peat moss.
Your wrigglers will eat their bedding as well as live in it, so make sure their bedding is moist and loose.
It should be about as damp as a wrung out sponge and loose enough so that the worms can breathe and oxygen can get in to allow the matter to decompose.
Be Careful With Paper and Cardboard
The glossy paper from newspapers and magazines may contain toxins.
Also, avoid cardboard that contains wax or plastic, such as cereal boxes or other containers that were used to hold food.
How Much Waste Can I Add?
When you first start out composting with worms, only feed your little guys about half of their body weight each day.
That means if you have one pound of worms, you should only provide them with half a pound of kitchen scraps.
In time, as your worms grow, they'll be able to consume more, and you can then give them closer to equal their body weight.
A good rule of thumb is to wait until the old food scraps have been processed before adding new scraps.
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
Keep Them From the Extremes
If you are composting with worms and live in a warm climate, keep your bin out of the direct sun.
You want the bin to remain moist.
Also, red wigglers are temperature sensitive, so don't let your bin get below freezing or above 84 degrees Fahrenheit.
Have Allergies?
All composters produce molds. They occur naturally with composting and actually help break matter down.
So when composting with worms, if you are allergic to mold or mildew, you will need to keep your worm composter outside.
Earthworms and Organic Gardening
If Things Get Stinky
Just like with a regular compost pile, when composting with worms, things may get stinky if you have too many greens in the mix.
You want about thirty parts of brown items (carbon) to about one part of the green things, such as grass clippings or lettuce leaves (nitrogen). Again, don’t use meat scraps as these will attract rodents. Also, do add fruit rinds. Your worms won’t be able to eat through them quickly enough, and they will start to stink.
What If Your Worms Get Company?
After a while, you may notice other bugs in your compost, such as millipedes and pill bugs. Don't worry. These bugs will help with the composting.
When Using This Wonderful Compost
The great thing about earthworms and organic gardening is you end up with a product that is incredibly rich. But it's also so rich that you don't want to use it alone as a seed starter.
Instead, add it to your potting mixes for extra nutrients. A good rule of thumb is to use one part worm poop to four parts of potting mix.
Extra Gardening Tips
Comprehensive Course on Gardening! Increase the value of your home by 30%.
Learn more by clicking here.
A garden kneeler and seat
makes daily weeding chores much easier by easing the strain on your lower back and knees while protecting your clothing from stain and injuries.
To protect your back, use a lifting tool
for heavy pots and other objects.
Long-term exposure to the elements will damage your tools and shorten their use.
Store your tools and other gardening supplies in a portable storage bin .
To make yard and garden cleaning easier, use a Kangaroo Gardening Container .
Invest in a sharpening tool
to keep your shovel and other gardening tools sharp and easier to work with.
Grow a successful hydroponic gardening with this helpful resource.
Protect your hands from insects and other injuries by wearing good quality gardening gloves.
More Homestead Gardening Links
Thinking about gardening the organic way? Follow these simple steps first.
Want to save even more money when gardening? Purchase bulk seeds for cost savings and self reliant preparation.
Get an early start on your gardening by starting your seeds indoors. Here are some tips.
Ready to grow your own vegetables, but you're not sure where to begin?
Learn which vegetables are the easiest to grow by clicking here.
The most comprehensive gardening instruction available on the internet!
Learn more.
Are you thinking about putting in a garden?
Follow these tips.
For healthy strong plants, put in raised beds.
Or avoid the digging altogether and put in these easier raised beds.
For truly rich, healthy soil, learn how to make your own compost.
Protect your plants and keep down weeds by mulching. Here are some mulching tips.
Build up your soil, and you'll keep pests down to a minimum, but what happens if pests do attack your garden? Here are some pest control tips
100's Of Wonderfully Frugal, Eco-Friendly and Highly Resourceful Gardening Techniques.
click here to learn more.
Gotten into poison ivy lately. Learn how to treat that awful itch. Here's how.
Do you have limited space? Consider growing your organic garden in containers.
Ready to have your own container garden? Here are some tips on finding the right garden container
Gardening can be much more than a hobby; it can also be a way to raise most of your food. Here's how.
An good resource for raising your own food is this ebook.
If you want the richest humus for your gardening, consider composting with worms
Save Thousands of Dollars a Year With This Fully Illustrated Guide.
Click here to learn more.
Want to have fresh greens for your salad all winter? Then build this easy, effective cold frame.
Get your garden off to the right start with strong growth and an early harvest. Learn how you can germinate seeds.
So why should you pursue organic gardening? Learn the benefits by clicking here.
True self sufficiency means being able to produce your own excellent-quality seeds. Here's how.
To save seeds, you must start with quality plants. Learn why you should purchase the seeds of heirloom plants by clicking here.
Have you thought about organic gardening but don't know where to begin?
Try these tips.
Have a Bountiful Organic Garden using a tiny amount of space.
Learn more.
As homesteaders, we primarily think about gardening to raise food, but beauty is also important.
Learn the importance of cottage gardening.
When planning your garden, don't forget to grow herbs. Not only do they smell nice and add flavoring to food, many also have healing qualities.
Learn more.
Got a bumper crop of potatoes or other root vegetables this season?
Learn an economical way to store them to keep them fresh all winter by clicking here.
If you want to extend your growing season, a small greenhouse might be just the ticket.
Learn more.
If you are thinking about adding on a lean to greenhouse, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Read more.
The winter months are a perfect time for planning your spring garden.
Learn more.
Summer garden not all you hoped it to be? Consider putting in a fall garden, but be sure to protect your plants from frosty nights.
Learn how.
The ins and outs of storing produce from your garden can be found by clicking here.
If you had an abundant harvest of root vegetables this year, don't let them go to waste; store them using this time-proven method instead.
Read more.
Return from Earthworms and Organic Gardening to Home
|
Build Your Own Chicken Tractor!
You Can Build a Chicken Tractor Provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to build a chicken tractor and also provides helpful information on how to get free wood and how your chickens can pay for themselves.
Click Here learn more.
Search This Site:
Subscribe to my free ezine!
Successful Homesteading is a bi-weekly e-zine covering everything about self-reliance and the healthy, frugal life.
Imagine! Great tips on organic gardening, self reliance, frugal living and frugal recipes on a regular basis and sent straight to your ebox!
Click here to subscribe.
How I'm Earning an Income at Home with This Website
I was determined to stay at home, but also needed a little extra money to make ends meet.
Then I learned about Site Build It!
When I started this website I had virtually no web building skills.
Now I am earning a great part-time income, working from home and having the time of my life.
You can too! Site Build It! has an easy to follow, step-by-step program that will show you how to build a successful website that brings in the traffic you need to get the income you want and start living the life you want to lead.
Want to learn how? Click here.
|
New! Comments
Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.