Worm Composting made easy

Today's post is brought to you by Kim Richardson, one of our Flower Tree family. Kimmie not only attended the class today on Vermiculture, but was an active participant in the worm release!

Worms….,Worms….,and MORE Worms!!!

On Saturday, Michelle, with shovel in hands, took her strong muscles out to the river garden to dig us a hole for our new little creepy crawler friends that would be arriving on Sunday at the Flower Tree. These red, slimy, yet awesome squirmy little guys were put into a new home to help benefit our garden. It was such a great day outside and we were all excited to see what vermicomposting is all about. Many of us were new to the whole concept of worm gardening. As we all sat around in the shade, we got to experience hand in hand how to build our own worm bin. Darren Murphey, a local gardener from Reno also known as the “Worm Guy”, led us in discussion as to why we should help benefit the earth and garden by letting nature take its true course. Darren and his wife helped answer the many questions we all had. One common question that was asked was, “Being that we live in such high desert terrain will these worms benefit our soils whether they’re clay or sandy?” Darren replied, “With clay and sandy soils the worm castings and worms help take off some of the workload by adding natural organic compounds into the soil.

The part that I found interesting was the vermicomposter, also known as can-o-worms that can be put inside your home. Vermicomposting uses earthworms to turn o

rganic wastes into very high quality compost. This is probably the best way of composting kitchen wastes, reducing garbage by up to a third and providing organic soil for your garden. Adding small amounts of damp kitchen scraps (as well as newspapers and cardboard boxes) to a large compost pile in the garden day by day can disrupt the decomposition process so that the compost is never really done. But it works great with vermicomposting.
When Darren was ready to put the worms in the in their new bin Michelle and I got ready with the biggest smiles on our faces. As Michelle held the container they were in, I gently scooped them out into the ground bin. I felt like such a kid again. The worms squirmed in between my fingers, such innocence when touching fresh earth and life.
All in all, I had a really great time learning the advantages to vermicomposting. If you were not able to make it to the class please feel free to look online at Darren Murphey’s website: http://www.sierrawormsolutions.com/ to learn more about the great advantages to having worms live in your garden and in your composter.

(Kim Richardson)