Expanding the worms

We showed you how we made our first worm bin back in August and now we're happy to announce that we are splitting it into 2 bins because the worms are doing great and multiplying like crazy. Vermicompost is a great way to recycle cardboard, paper and kitchen scraps into very nutritious food for the plants in your home and garden.

"Worms? Last week you wouldn't stop talking about flowers and now you're discussing worms?  I need a  new garden manager."

The second bin is larger than the first one but assembled the same way

The only difference between our initial set up and this one, other than size, is that I used cardboard cut into 2 inch pieces rather than paper bags for the bedding. The paper bags were holding too much moisture and the worms seem happier and more productive since switching to cardboard for their bedding. They need about 4 inches of bedding in the bottom of the bin.

"Do you mind not talking about worms while I'm trying to take a bath?" 

Whatever Frijole.

We took half the worms from the old bin and transferred them to the new bin

The worms will all work their way down to the bottom of the bin

 

After transferring the worms out of the old bin, I added new bedding to the empty area

I did use my screen to harvest some of the wonderful castings in the process

We are able to harvest castings regularly now that our first bin is in full swing, we use them to feed our plants and will soon start making worm tea to use where we need liquid fertilizer or want a foliar spray.

This is the new bin with worms added to the left side

I will wait about a week for the worms to settle in before I add a meal of kitchen scraps buried in one of the right corners of this bin. We are planning to build several more bins over the next couple months and will let you know what we learn as we go. So far worms seem to be very low maintenance and highly useful pets.

"Okay. Now you're sounding crazy. Worms as pets?"