Wormbin adventure on the 30th floor

[lhamo]

Got my veggie starters from my farm co-op and also managed to snag some worms so I can start a worm bin. Made for kind of a crazy week between getting containers to use for the bins, finding out we didn't have a drill in the house (what the former owners left behind that I thought was a drill was actually a dremel), trying to keep the worms alive and being afraid we had killed them, finding a place to buy the drill, and getting home and setting the thing up. but when I fished the worms out of their temporary housing I discovered most had actually survived, and they are now happily ensconced in their new home. I hope this will work. I"m mostly doing it as a way to reduce household waste -- we are down to very little waste except fruit and veggie scraps, so this will bring it down even more. Of course, the worm castings will also be useful as I try to expand our container garden. I got cucumber, tomato and pepper starters from the farm, and those will be repotted tomorrow (ran out of energy to go get pots today).

Does anyone else keep a worm bin? Any tips? I think I probably qualify for the highest altitude worms on the forum -- we're on the 30th floor in a Beijing highrise!

lhamo

[Aspen]

I love my worm bins! I have several. For bedding, I use shredded newspaper, junk mail (no cellophane or slick/shiny paper), toilet paper rolls that are torn up. I feed them coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, veggie scraps, and bunny poop.

I love to use the castings as dressing around my vegetable plants and also steep the castings to make tea. This can be used to water your veggies or to spray on the leaves. It makes sense to compost with worms. To buy worm castings, you pay about a dollar per pound. Much cheaper to make your own!!