Compost is a great organic additive to help your garden thrive that many people are familiar with. With minimal time and effort, and your leftover food scraps, you can have your own compost pile going for your garden. If you’re curious about getting your own compost pile started, read this article.
After diving into the world of composting and exploring the benefits of composting for your garden you may begin to see more information about vermiculture in your search for information about composting. Vermiculture is widely considered one of the best ways to get nutrients into your garden, even better than regular composting!
Vermiculture is a type of composting that uses worms to break down food waste and other scraps and turn them into organic matter. It can be a blanket term for vermicompost or worm castings, both terms you may be familiar with if you’ve done research on composting, although they are technically different things.
Worm castings are pure worm waste. They are created by feeding your worms (commonly red wigglers) food waste, manure, as well as scraps like egg cartons and brown paper. Pure worm castings look similar to coffee grounds although it can be difficult to achieve pure worm castings entirely lacking in undigested organic matter.
Steve Churchill, owner at Urban worm Company agrees with the sentiment that “pure” worm castings are nearly impossible to achieve, “As there is no true way to separate castings from undigested organic matter and other various small particles that would fall through a trommel screen during the harvest. ” That being said, while Urban worm company does not market their worm castings as pure, they maintain that their worm castings are some of the purest you can get.
Vermicompost is a mix of worm castings and regular organic matter, undigested by the worms. Still very beneficial for your garden!
Making vermicompost, although possible, can be more complicated and labor intensive than regular compost as it requires making sure that you have the right ratio of worms to organic matter, and the right ratio of different kinds of organic matter to make sure that the worms are not overheating. To speed along the process of vermicompost you can chop up your organic matter into smaller pieces, although this is not necessary. Technically, a worm can eat up to its weight in food a day. One pound of worms could eat One pound of food waste in a day, but it’s unnecessary to feed them that much if you don’t have the means to do so. Vermicompost is made in a worm bin, where your worms live with the organic food matter, and the finished vermicompost filters down to the bottom for you to retrieve. In this way, worm bins are designed differently from regular composters.
Additionally, because the worms are constantly at work, your worm bin may not have as strong of an odor as your standard compost pile (although if your pile is breaking down properly, it shouldn’t smell too much). This makes a worm bin a great option for indoor composting. Although your worms can live both inside and outside, they thrive at a temperature between 55 and 75 degrees.
While vermicomposting can be a daunting task, it can be highly rewarding once you’re successful with it. If you’re looking for the best organic nutrient additive for your garden, vermicompost may be a great option for you.
We at Midtown composting carry worm bags. Additionally, Uncle Jim’s worm farm and Urban Worm Company are great sources for getting started on purchasing your worms and worm bins.
If you’re interested in the nutrients from vermicompost without all the work, you can buy finished vermicompost. If you’re local to Detroit check out our vermicompost. If not, Uncle Jim’s also has finished vermicompost.