#organicgardening #vermicompost #compostingworms #compostbin #raisedbedgarden #squarefootgardening
One of the best ways to have an amazingly healthy and lush garden is to produce your own compost. And it really isn’t hard to do!
I compost two ways:
- A rotating composter
- In-bed vermicomposting (which uses worms)
FOR THE ROTATING COMPOSTER:
This is the link to the one I have: bit.ly/composter2
I didn’t want to deal with huge heaps of compost and the space required for traditional composting, so I bought a rotating composter that has two, big, individual bins and I’ve loved it.
I was intimidated at first, thinking I needed a certain percentage of “browns” versus “greens”. But really I just started with a base of shredded paper and cardboard (those are the “browns”), then started adding kitchen scraps. You can do a quick google search to see what to add and not add, but basically you don’t want to add meat or cheese.
For “greens” I add all my veggie scraps or moldy produce I didn’t get to quick enough before it went bad. I also add my herbal tea bags and my Crio Bru grounds (Crio Bru is kind of like a chocolate tea, but if you drink coffee you can add those grounds too). When I trim up overgrown plants in my garden, or deadhead flowers, I add those too.
Then I keep the whole mixture damp (not sopping wet). They tell you the mixture should feel like a damp sponge if you were to squeeze it.
When done right, it doesn’t attract bugs and it doesn’t smell bad (just musty, like dirt). If it stinks, I know I need to add more “browns”. If it isn’t breaking down, I know I need more “greens”.
FOR VERMICOMPOSTING:
I used $5 wire trash cans from an office supply store, and sunk them into my raised beds with the top being level with the top of the soil. Then I added a layer of shredded cardboard and ½ pound of Red Wriggler worms per trash can. For my garden I have two trash cans per bed, spaced evenly, so the worms can cover everything pretty well.
I got my worms from Arizona Worm Farm (and they will ship to you too): arizonawormfarm.com/
Then I covered the worms with a layer of shredded cardboard. They tell you exactly how to do this on their website.
Once a week I add a layer of kitchen scraps, and replace the shredded cardboard on top. The worms go to town eating the scraps. The worm poop is know as “castings” and is considered GOLD in the gardening world. It acts as a natural fertilizer. The worms crawl out of the bins, all through the garden, leaving castings as they go. The castings also build up in the bins. About every month or two, the bins are completely full and I spread about half the castings in the bin over the area surrounding the bins, fertilizing all the surrounding plants. Then the process begins again.
Vermicomposting will make a HUGE difference in your garden, and the cost of the worms will pay for itself many, many times over.
Do you vermicompost? Are you going to try it? Tell me in the comments!
24 авг 2023
