Worm Beds

Gina’s new sig lines - “A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.” Arthur Golden

and …     “You’re a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. Unconditional self-acceptance is the core of a peaceful mind.” Author Unknown (Debbie note on this - and unconditional self-acceptance is only true when combined with realizing God’s unconditional acceptance - when you realize He accepts you just like you are.)

Worm beds

Find a cheap or old, used plastic container. A long shallow one works well. Drill some holes in the bottom for the moisture to drain out. This water/moisture is very nutrient rich so save it, dilute and use to water your plants.

Shred some newspapers or junk mail into thin strips. You can do this by hand or with a shredding machine. Our’s broke years ago and I can’t seem to replace it. Wet the paper strips until damp as a wrung out sponge. If you get them too wet, just let them sit for awhile.

I got my papers too wet so I added a few new dry strips and stirred it all together.

Fluff the dampened newspaper up to fill the container most of the way full. Add some coffee grounds, tea bags, banana peels, veggie scraps (no citrus, onions nor dairy/meat scraps).

I did not add very many scraps (is that grammatically correct?) because I’m going to start with a small number of worms … which I will dig later when daylight appears. I’ll also dig a clump of dirt around the worms and put the whole mess right on top of the scraps, introducing them to their feast. You can either dig worms out of your yard or garden, stop by a bait store, or buy some from gardening supply companies - local nurseries may have them at this time of the year. I know Gardens’ Alive and Gardeners Supply carry worms.

Add the worms.  Cover lightly - do not suffocate the worms with the lid!! I’m going to put newspaper over top my bed as it will be in the garage where the cats can’t visit. Place the worm bed out of direct sunlight, in a cool place (about as cool as a garage on a spring day). You can even keep it inside as long as you put something under the container to catch the water draining out. Makes a big mess in the kitchen without that. Don’t ask how I know.

In a few weeks you’ll need to harvest the worm castings and compost and I’ll show you how to do that then!

Gardener’s Supply has fantastic worm composters - I really like the round ones - that start at $149. It’s that $140 in front of the $9 that stops me cold every time but I dream of having one some day. This worm tub works just fine.

If you want to do an outside worm bed, just do the above without the container. Pick an area that is not in full sunlight 24/7 or so it feels in Texas summers. Pick an area that may have morning sun but afternoon shade. Dig a shallow pit, about 2 foot x 5 foot and fill with light soil and/or straw/hay that is dampened. Pull the bedding away and add your veggie scraps. The worms will stay in the area you’ve made as long as you feed them and provide them clean bedding every now and then.

Regardless of which method you use, you’ll want to keep the bedding SLIGHTLY damp and do NOT over feed - this isn’t a compost pile. Watch how fast the worms eat the scraps and don’t let the scraps mold and rot - remove some if necessary.  Worms need the egg shells and coffee grounds to help them digest the food. BTW, they will eat the newspaper and paper shreds so those will need to be replaced just like the hay/straw bedding will. (Side note - if you use paper towels, compost them.) When the temps get too high, put a piece of wood over the top of the  OUTSIDE worm bed to keep the area cool and damp. We had friends who spread corn flakes on their worm bed to feed them but with dogs, cats and guineas I wouldn’t try that myself.

If fire ants get in your worm bed, and they will come hunting the cool, damp bedding, sprinkle some ag DE on the ants. DE won’t hurt the worms but it will discourage/kill the ants. Believe me it is no fun to harvest a worm bed full of fire ants.

I’m going to keep my worm bed in the garage for right now. Not sure if I’ll move it outside later or not. We used to keep the worms under the rabbit cages. Didn’t have to do much of anything - nature took care of it all.

Thanks, Gina, for asking about worm beds. Let me know if there are any questions. I always forget some things as I explain stuff. I’ve written this all in a rush so if I’ve scrambled some thoughts, just let me know. Feel free to edit!!

This entry was posted on March 17, 2009 at 05:38 am and is filed under Homestead living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.