food scrap composting | Crazy About Compost

Helping Your Worms Beat the Heat! Keeping Worm Bins Cool

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEka0rNbdy8 Smart idea for the summer time! If you store your food scraps in the fridge before you compost them, then this is a default no-brainer concept. My basement stays cool or freezing cold all year long it seems, so I've never really thought about this so much. Over at redwormcomposting.com, there's several accounts of people's worms surviving at extremely hot and cold temperatures, well above and below the suggested temps for their survival. Worms are resilient little critters, aren't they?

Composting with red worms outside during the winter (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFIFFw81YeE Oh, Utah winter... can't imagine! People in Philadelphia complain over an inch. Admittedly I'm getting tired of snow already. A pit in the ground works through the winter...pretty cool! Black plastic on top, plenty of cardboard underneath can work wonders for keeping the worms going through the cold months.

Think Cool: Winter Worm Composting (article)

[Originally found here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/winter-worm-composting.aspx] Even in the heat of summer, it's not to early to consider ways to keep our garden friends, our composting worms, fully employed over the winter months. For now, use that vermicompost for some worm "compost teas" to help your gardens with the stress of this summer’s heat. When cold weather comes, gather your materials and try overwintering your worms outside. Cold weather (remember that?) will definitely slow the activity of a worm colony. Although my experience is that worms can be incredibly hardy, there’s no reason to miss a beat over the winter. The two key factors are shelter and heat. Last winter I chose had to replace my compost bins cause they were rotten. They were oak pallets and they had lasted about seven years. I took the old pallets…