Vermicomposting – Hope Gardens Hope Gardens Vermicomposting – Hope Gardens
worm castings forever!
Have you heard of vermicomposting? It’s a lot like regular composting in that you can make good use of food waste and create a fantastic soil amendment at the same time.
It differs in that you don’t need yard waste or “brown materials.”
Instead you provide a ventilated container and bedding for the worms (traditionally shredded newspaper but I now use coir) and feed the worms your kitchen scraps.
I use raw fruits and vegetables, coffee filters and tea bags. Eggshells can also be composted.
Leave out the orange peels and other citrus as they are toxic to worms.
Add kitchen scraps weekly or whenever your compost bucket overflows. I keep mine under the sink. You can see a picture and read more about that and traditional composting here.
Overtime, your worms will multiply and you will have loads of worm castings. Add new bins as the need arises (I currently have FIVE!)
Perhaps best of all, vermicomposters can be kept on porches, in garages, even in apartments.
So anyone can compost! 🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱
Here’s a quick video on how I set up my vermicomposter.
I add worms and their castings to all my new garden installs and again when I replant seasonally. To prevent damage to the worms and their microsystem,I carefully place the worms and castings on the top of the planted garden like a mulch so the worms can safely find their own way into the garden.
You can make compost tea with the castings too for an “alive” liquid fertilizer.
You can always order worms and worm castings from us if you haven’t had a chance to get started.