My friends, the worms and their compost bucket home.
growing food, potatoes, Uncategorized Add comments
C (my wife) won’t let me have chickens. It sounds a bit pathetic when I put it like that but she objects to their mess ( and also she had traumatic experiences during a gap year in Africa). Consequently, I have to shower all my love on my worms. Nos 1 and 2 (my children) are of course my priority and I feed Grace the Cat, who seems to have an unnatural and unrequited regard for me, when I have to, but the worms have a special place in my heart. They live in their own little compost bucket- a specially adapted small wheelie bin, purchased about four years ago. In fact, I went through a phase of buying them as presents for friends and relatives. To be fair they did seem surprised when a bucket arrived plus starter compost and a bag of live worms. Inquisitive more than keen I would say in hindsight. I have had to restock a few of them from my burgeoning population. I am constantly amazed when I move an old stack of empty plant pots, sitting on a concrete slab, and find big fat worms underneath. Yet, in a custom made environment, it seems so easy to wipe them out.
How to start a compost bucket:
You need some kind of staging to sit in the bottom of the bucket. This allows the fluid to collect and otherwise the compost becomes too wet, drowning the worms. The fluid needs to be drawn off and some sort off tap in the bottom will allow you to collect this. For this purpose set your bucket on a few bricks so you can easily put a bottle underneath to collect it. It is great fertilizer and officially supposed to be odourless. However, if things aren’t perfect inside it stinks and if you get it on your hands you will scrub all day to get rid of the smell.
Start your worms off in some good soil or bought compost and let them get used to their new home. Gradually add the vegetable waste. The thing that has gone wrong most with me is that to much of one type of waste seems to stop the worms working well and it breaks down making the compost too acidic for them to thrive or even live in. I now never add orange peel or onion skins, but even too many potato skins can cause a a problem. I used to add eggshells as it was said that they help with this but have found them nearly intact when emptying the bin in spring. I now have bought some lime and throw a couple of handfuls in fortnightly. I also put old plant pot soil in and the worms seem to migrate to this and a few sheets of newspaper, again something they seem to enjoy. Too rich an environment seems not to be the thing.
Never put meat in, people told me it would attract mice or rats. I haven’t noticed that but it doesn’t seem to get digested. I have done another article on ways of dealing with this type of waste: a bokashi compost bucket.
Our worms have survived again this winter- minus 13 on several nights. When I opened the lid the compost was solid and I fully expected the worms to be so as well. After it thawed they did too and my sleepless nights ended.
my worms
February 17th, 2011 at 10:47 am
I tried to post a comment previously, although it has not shown up. I assume your spam filter may possibly be broken?
February 17th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Do you people have a myspace fan web page? I searched for one on facebook or myspace but could not find one, I would really like to become a fan!
February 18th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
I don’t- and to be honest hadn’t thought of one but I am still learning about this. All the best to you and thanks.
February 18th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
It may be – I have looked at the wordpress help page but can’t anything about it. I guess it is working now, though.
February 18th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Thanks for your kind words- it is really encouraging to hear them.
February 24th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
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February 28th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
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March 20th, 2011 at 7:59 am
I appreciate the comments. Even though I might not really agree with almost everything you state, it is good to see someone showing their own mind with the minimum of fuss.
March 20th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
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May 27th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
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