When I first started looking into vermicomposting I was worried. It seemed like lots of do and don'ts, and I just didn't want to kill a bunch of worms. Now what I'm going to tell you I'm not proud of, matter of fact I'm quite ashamed. I started a couple of years ago with I think it was 250 or 500 worms, what ever I could afford. I did so well the first year I divided them and did two bins. I have been dealing with some personal stuff I won't bore you with. I have completely neglected my worm bin. Now I found out early on that some neglect is good. Worms don't like there home or themselves to be messed with. For me they don't need as much food as I saw on the internet, and the bedding
should be moister then they show. I went way beyond this. When I would think about them it was a time I couldn't do anything, and when I had time I wasn't thinking of them. Usually when the temperature gets above 100 I put ice packs on the side of the bin. We went through 2 bad heat waves already, and I did nothing. Last weekend it was cooler, and I decided to deal with the bins. I was sure everything would be dead, especially when I took the lid off and saw it dry as a bone. The bin was mostly worm castings, but I wanted to sift out the bit of
wood chips. Strange
enough I had lots of worms in that bin. They are small and I don't deserve them, but there alive. I'm getting a second chance without having to buy worms. I really can' imagine how they survived in those conditions. I ran out of time that night and didn't get a chance to deal with the second bin. Yesterday before work I checked the bin I redid, gave it a little more
water, and some honeydew to old from the fridge. For the heck of it I checked the other bin I haven't dealt with yet. Even drier, and less material then the first bin. No way any survived. I wet it down and throw some honeydew in just in case. Sure enough before I put the lid back on I see movement from amazing survivors.
I'm sharing this sad tail of neglect to hopefully encourage those of you who think you can't do it because it's too hard, or you don't have time ect. I don't want anyone to treat there worms like I have. I hope I never do this again! But it really is the easiest composting method I have come across. You can set up a system simple to fancy, cheap to pretty expensive. Once it's set up the worms themselves take almost no work, all they need it moisture, and food scraps now and then. It does take a little work to harvest worm castings. There are a lot of methods out there, and you just need to figure what works best for you. The internet is loaded with ways others do it. The worm castings are amazing, gardeners gold.
If you want to try vermicomposting, just do it. It's not that hard, and apparently the worms are pretty hardy and resilient. Good luck
2
