Even if the heat makes it hard to think about gardening, one thing gardeners can do right now involves a trip to the local bait shop – not the local nursery or seed store. Vericomposting —or composting with worms—is gaining in popularity. Worms are raised, fed kitchen waste and then leave behind a rich fertilizer (castings).
“Gardener’s gold,” said Ravenstar Outdoor Education Executive Director Kelley Clifford, when talking about the worm waste. “It is the richest, blackest stuff, and the best thing for your garden.”
At Ravenstar, 776 E. Torrey St., vericomposting was first set up in June of 2008 and has continued, along with regular composting.
“The concept has been around for some time,” Clifford said. “But I think it is gaining in popularity because it is so good for reducing landfill waste, and the organic movement is so big right now. Especially in this part of Texas right now where there is such a big concern about water sources and pesticides.”
In Seattle, Wash., where the Ezine “News for Parents” is created, homeowners are no longer allowed to put fruit, vegetable and garden waste in trash bins, so many homeowners have taken up composting, and some have taken up vericomposting.
One homeowner enriched her flower beds with an easy, informal composting method: Every time her countertop jar was full of potato peels, apple cores and broccoli stems, she dug a foot-deep hole and dumped in the vegetable waste. Once the dirt was replaced, the worms already in the flower bed started migrating to the food, enriching the soil as they ate. By always using a new hole, she eventually attracted worms to her entire flower bed. (Reprinted with permission from Parenting Press News for Parents, copyright @2009)
For those wishing to build their own worm bin, the process is fairly simple. According to the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (www.tnrcc.com), a wooden or plastic container should be 1 foot high, 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. It should have perforated holes in the sides and top of the container for proper air circulation. It should also contain holes in the bottom for drainage. A bedding of paper such as newspaper, paper towels or cardboard, cut into strips and soaked in water, should cover the bottom of the container.
“You should also have some leaves,” Clifford said. “You should have a one part green to two parts brown ratio so you have the right carbon to nitrogen ratio.”
At Ravenstar, a screen was also placed on the bottom of the worm bin so that the worm castings could filter through the newspaper and leaves. The paper bedding, mixed in with a little soil or fine sand, is added to the bin until it is about one-third full. The worms are added next.
