Gardening Matters: Wonderful World of Worms

Carla Albright

We have talked a lot about pollinators in recent months, but this week I wanted to discuss another group of beneficial insects: worms. Worms can not only help you reduce kitchen scraps, but they produce waste called "worm castings" that is a great organic fertilizer for all your plants.

Not being a fisherperson, I never thought too much about worms as a child other than they were "yucky" when my brother waved them in front of my face.

But a few years ago, a fellow Master Gardener, Corrine Dumas, put me on to the wonderful world of worms, also known as vermicomposting. Corrine had several worm bins that she had made from storage containers. They nested inside of each other with drainage holes here and there on the bottom.

I was lucky enough to inherit a worm bin from Gardeners’ Supply that has three levels and a roof as well as a drainage port on the bottom layer. This comes in handy to drain excess moisture from the bin to use in making "worm tea." Worm tea is a nutrient-rich solution that I dilute to 1 part tea to 50 parts water and use it to fertilize my orchids, houseplants, and outdoor plants.

There can be quite a process involved with setting up the bin, but there are lots of good videos on YouTube and articles on the internet to help you. Some say to add a layer of dirt (not fancy potting soil) on the bottom of the bin with a layer of compost on top. Then tear some cardboard into small pieces and soak them in water, making a mush. Turns out, worms love cardboard so add some toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls on top of the soaked cardboard. Coconut coir is a layer that helps hold in moisture but isn't necessary. You can also cut 1-inch strips of newspaper and make the worm bedding from that.

Worms do like a moist environment, so moisten the bedding until it feels like a wrung-out sponge.

Kitchen scraps come next, placing the greens on the top to keep the bin from heating up. Vegetable peels, apple cores, banana peels and even pieces of stale bread are good. But add lettuce or other greens on top. You can add some used paper towels, too.

If you are keeping your bin outside, diatomaceous earth can be sprinkled around the outside of the bin, too, to keep insects like slugs and roaches from invading the bin.

Don't put worms into a new bin for a few days to give the compost a chance to heat up and then cool down before you add worms to the bin.

Use red wriggler worms and not earthworms in your bin. While earthworms are good for breaking down materials that have started decomposing, they aren't as fast as red wigglers in breaking down your scraps. Earthworms also don't do well in an enclosed space but the red wigglers do. Red wigglers can be purchased online, or if you have a friend with a successful worm bin, they will most likely be willing to share a few to start with. Red wigglers multiply a lot in a well-balanced bin.

To retain moisture, you can add more coir and paper towels to the top before you add the worms, and then more coir or burlap on top to keep fruit flies away.

Once your worm bin is active, you will notice the worms start to procreate. I feed my worms once a week in the summer but only once a month in winter when they are less active. Don't put your worm bin in direct sun or leave it outside in the winter. It is pretty easy to move into an unheated garage or potting shed for the cold months. And then back outside in spring. When the worms are happy, they will make lots of castings and tea and you can use the worm castings and worm tea to fertilize just about anything in your garden.

Don't add onion, garlic, peppers, citrus, meat products or dairy products to the bin. This list is similar to what you don't put into a compost pile. But unlike the compost pile, we don't want the bin to heat up, which is why greens go on top and not mixed in.

When I get too many red wigglers in the worm bin, I take a few shovels full of worms and castings and add them to my compost bin. They speed up the composting process there and escape through drainage holes if they get too hot.

I currently have enough small red wigglers to share to the first five people (who live in Tillamook County) and email me at [email protected]. This could be a good start to your very own worm bin.

Carla Albright

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