3 Reasons to Try Worm Composting
Composting kitchen scraps in a worm bin is easy and rewarding. Even if you already have an outdoor compost bin, having a worm bin makes good sense. Here’s why:
Worms work FAST: Worms can convert most kitchen scraps to finished compost in less than two weeks.
Worms work ALL WINTER LONG: Keep a worm bin in your basement, garage or pantry (above 55 degrees and below 80 degrees F) and your worms will keep making compost right through the winter months.
Worm Castings are RICH: Top dress any of your indoor or outdoor plants with some finished worm compost and watch what happens. You’ll get better results than with any commercial fertilizer.
Learn more: Worm Composting How-To
Dear Santa,
Kristin wants more bird feeders, Maria would like a rain barrel, Lisa wants an irrigation system and Suzanne hopes to have a green thumb this year.
We are blown away by the scads of answers to our question “what garden gift do you most want to see under the tree.” More than a thousand of you wrote in – and we hope Santa is listening.
Most of you, not surprisingly, wanted our groovy, green Worm Farm Composter (it also comes in grey), and that’s the Grand Prize in this contest.
There are more responses below, or you can go to our Facebook page to see the complete contest.
The winners
We picked our winners at random, and in case you’re wondering, here is who won what:
- Worm Farm Composter: Robyn Marie
- $100 Gardener’s Supply Gift Cards: Heather Goesch and Sarah Bergstrom
Your comments
Here’s a sampling of what some of you wrote in:
- I would like a green thumb for Christmas. Every year my garden succumbs to tomato blight, cucumber beetles, blossom rot … You name it, the garden gets it. Thank goodness for farmer’s markets!
- I would like to have all the knowledge about gardening that my father had.
- I want to start a non-profit to bring good food to the ‘hood. I want to teach low-income families how to grow their own food at home, whether they live in an apartment, a townhouse, trailer, rental home or their own house. I would love to get a starter kit of some sort, if one exists lol. If not, I’d be satisfied with tools, seeds, and raised beds.
- Actually, the next thing on my list is the a worm farm composter. My husband already got me a double barrel composter and a rototiller. My son helped me put in two raised beds, which are growing fabulous veggies now, so now I need lots of worm castings for fertilizer!
- I would love for my family to take me to an herb farm for a day.
- All I want for Christmas is a truckload of good “dirt”, gutters for my house that feed into a multi-barrel, rainwater collection system, and an assortment of large, decorative planters and add more planting areas to my gardens. And winning a worm composter would be icing on my cake!
- Dear Santa Greenjeans: I’ve been a good gardner this year. I watered and weeded all year long — on time!
I have too many worms that love to live and eat the dirt in my outside pots. They then make their fecal matter which clogs up the pot and retains too much water. I have to knock off all the direct and replace it with fresh, but it just starts all over again. This time of year with lots of rain, the worms come out of the pots and live under the saucers. Is there anything I can do to stop the worms from going into my pots. The pots are on the ground so they have access to the pots. I don’t want to use pots without drainage holes however.
I have .50 acre of overhrow hearty earth & foliage, that I WOULD LOVE TO CONVERT INTO AN ORGANIC GARDEN!! The organic food bill is killing our budget for a growing family of 4… I have been physically diaabled over the last 5 years & I believe getting back into the therapy of tilling, digging, growing, and getting dirty is just what the Dr. ordered!!! I have a 3 & 4 yr old that are eager to help Momma, too 🙂 Its been 20yrs since I grew a garden, & it waa far from organic, and far less space to play with. I’M SUPER EXCITED TO EMBARK ON THIS ADVENTURE!! I also NO TOOLS but a cheap shovel & plastic rake… And I’ve already filled up 1 30-gallon old trash bin to attempt a compost pile. I live in FL, its in the 70’s in January, LoL, so I have along growing season to explore. I also have about 60% shade in my growing area, which is about .25 acres. And I also have much poison ivy & poison oak living in the ground of my garden area… I don’t want to use harmful chemicals to kill it, but it needs to GO, or scale back, as I don’t want my little family getting exposed to it’s evil bite back!!
I have much physical work ahead & research to compile to determine what & how I can grow on our new lot. The foodg thing is, the ground seems VERY FURTILE and MOIST, despite being partly sandy & only partially exposed to sun for 3-4 hours per section.
I also have to plant a Lemon Tree and an Avocado Tree on the property as well.
ANY ADVISE, WISDOM, & TRICKS OF THE TRADE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
THANK YOU & GOD BLESS!!
Ashley Chila