What is Worm Composting?

Worm Composting, or Vermicomposting, uses special composting worms to recycle organic materials.  The worms live in and eat things like moistened paper, cardboard, and leaves. And you feed them your food scraps, like banana peels, vegetable trimmings, apple cores, etc. 

What's so special about composting worms?

Only a handful of worm species are well-suited for composting. They're a group of worms biologically programmed to stay in the top few inches of the soil and eat the layer of organic matter on top of it. They do little except eat, reproduce, and leave their castings (worm poop). The most popular species? Red Wigglers, Eisenia fetida. 

1. The worm castings are great! 

Worm poop, or worm castings, will add organic matter to your garden and important microbes to your soil. Worm castings even help reduce common plant pests and diseases!

2. It's a simple and inexpensive process.

As with any hobby, there's a cheap and simple way to start, and then there are upgrades. At its most basic, you need a bin, the worms, and some scraps to put inside. There's no worrying about adding "greens" vs. "browns" as with a regular compost pile. And there's one main rule: Don't overfeed the worms. 

3. It doesn't require much hands-on work.

Unless you've become a large-scale worm farmer, the physical labor and involvement are minimal. Once you get things going, the effort required involves periodically adding your food scraps. Then you leave the worms to do their thing. They prefer it that way! Eventually, you can grab a scoop of their finished castings and stick it in your garden! Or you can broaden the benefits of a scoop of worm castings by making a liquid extract or tea to feed your garden.