Winter Worms

Worm composting is perfect for apartment dwellers and for children who love the idea of keeping hundreds of wigglers as pets. It will decrease your food waste, and can be done indoors or outdoors year-round. Vermicompost, or worm castings, is made in a container filled with moistened bedding and redworms. Add food waste, and the worms and micro-organisms convert the contents into an organic, non-burning fertilizer rich in nutrients.

Containers can be either wood or plastic. Buy a ready-made bin, or make your own. Cut aeration holes into the top and drainage holes into the bottom, with screening laid inside the bottom. Raise the bin with a drainage tray placed at the bottom. A good size for a bin is 12" high x 16" deep x 24" long.

The worms live in a damp bedding, in which you bury waste. Use shredded newspaper (avoid coloured inks) and cardboard, shredded fall leaves, chopped up straw, sawdust, peat moss, compost or aged manure. Add moistened bedding materials to about three-quarters full.

Two types of worms can be used: the "red wiggler" or manure worm (Eisensia foetida) or the "red worm," another manure worm (Lumbricus rebellus). Do not use dew worms. For each cubic foot of worm bin, use a half-pound of red wigglers (about 500).

Worms will eat food scraps such as potato peels, lettuce, celery, apples, banana peels, grapefruit and orange rinds, tea leaves, tea bags, coffee grounds and paper filters. Do not compost meats, dairy products, oily foods and grains because of problems with smells, flies and rodents. Bury the food in different locations each time. Dried eggshells crushed and sprinkled over the bedding once a week will keep it from becoming too acidic.

Separate the worms from the finished compost approximately every three months. Move the compost to one side of the bin, and bury food waste in new bedding on the opposite side. In about 3 or 4 weeks, the worms will move over; then castings can be harvested. Or dump the entire contents of the bin onto a plastic sheet, make tiny mounds and shine a bright light over them. The worms will crawl to the bottom of the mounds. Harvest the compost, returning the worms back to the bin with fresh bedding. If your worms have multiplied substantially, start another worm bin with the extras or give them away.

Overloading the bin with food scraps causes a lack of oxygen and strong odours. Stop adding food scraps until the food is broken down, gently stir up the contents and stop adding waste for a week. If worms crawl onto the container sides and lid, the bedding may be too acidic. Add a bit of calcium carbonate such as garden lime and cut down on the amount of acidic food waste. Avoid fruit flies by keeping a plastic sheet or sack on top of the compost in the bin.

Tip: To make "Worm Compost Tea," put 2 cups (250 ml) of castings to one gallon (4 litres) of water in a burlap bag, cheesecloth or old pillowcase. Let it steep in the water for 24 hours. Water your plants with this very rich nutrient tea. Spread the solid contents in your garden or return to compost pile.