Earthworm by Ben Ketaro

Most gardeners are appreciative of the value of worms to the garden. Creeping about in the darkness of your herb gardens and rose beds, these tiny denizens of the earth aerate the soil and provide some of the richest, most potent natural fertilizer known. When soil and rotting materials pass through the worm’s gut, many disease-causing pathogens are destroyed; helpful microorganisms, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and plant hormones are added. Worm castings are so full of nutrients that even when diluted with water (the delicious-sounding “compost tea” or “worm castings tea”) they effectively provide plants with everything they need to grow lush and green. An added benefit is that this type of fertilizer is very natural and safe ~ you need never worry about harmful effects on people or household pets.

Today I see more and more gardeners adding vermicomposting to their garden projects. With a little background reading on worms’ favorite foods and perhaps some ideas on bin styles and sizes, nearly anyone can enjoy virtually-odorless composting ~ even city dwellers. This is one great “small step” along the path of reducing waste through a lifestyle change, and it’s really painless.

Vermicomposting Tips:

~ Vermicomposting bins need not be large, and they can fit well into urban spaces. There should be little to no odor, as the worms will readily consume most of your household organic waste (although there are a few things, like onions, that they don’t appreciate so much).

~ When choosing or designing your bin, you may wish to consider how you will separate the worms from the castings. There are some ingenious designs to accomplish this, but some of the more patient gardeners simply pour all the compost out onto a white tarp or plastic sheet and let the worms exit before removing the compost to the garden.

~ In my readings the general consensus seems to be that tiny red “wiggler” worms (Eisenia foetida) are the best for composting, followed by the larger red worms (Lumbricus rubellas). I would be interested to hear from anyone who has found good results from other kinds of worms.

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While I ended up revising my original composting plan after learning that worms aren’t crazy about fresh chicken droppings, I am planning to incorporate a vermiculture composting bin for kitchen wastes on the other side of the garage later this summer. The chicken waste-composting bin has worked really well so far, and I expect even more good compost for next spring’s planting.

Terracycle’s products in recycled packaging

Taking vermicomposting to another level: TerraCycle’s eco-capitalism

Vermicomposting has become so popular that is finally earning the attention of business folk as a potentially lucrative market. TerraCycle is a fresh, young company bringing some long-overdue earth-friendly business practices into play with vermiculture ~ and making a great gardening product in the process.

In a nutshell, TerraCycle’s activities include:

~ Using red worms to process organic waste; the processed material is then liquefied and converted into plant food.

~ Sponsoring paid recycling programs for items such as plastic soda bottles, juice drink pouches, yogurt containers, and even foil cookie wrappers.

~ Using these recycled products to package the liquid plant food. Only recycled products are used for every step of the business process.

The whole concept of the company is refreshing and ingenious to me, and it can all be boiled down into the idea that there is no waste. There is no need to generate and discard materials, filling up landfills and creating environmental issues. These young men have proven that eco-capitalism can work, and through their efforts they have become fine examples to the rest of us as to just what we can accomplish on this little planet of ours. It’s amazing what you can grow with a little garbage and a few worms!

Child holding earthworm by bzo

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If you would like to explore vermicomposting, you might check out some of these links:

Journey to Forever’s article on Vermicomposting
http://journeytoforever.org/compost_worm.html

TerraCycle home page
http://www.terracycle.net/index.htm

Worm Woman’s site full of resources
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html

and, to be fair, we’ll also include ~

Friendly Worm Guy’s blog out of Ontario, Canada
http://www.friendlywormguy.com/blog/
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