worm inn | Crazy About Compost

Why Compost Is Essential to Container Gardens (article)

Recently I was trying to learn more about how to turn my balcony into a healthy, useful garden...and that's when I found balconycontainergardening.com . Since I'm a complete newbie when it comes to gardening, I ended up spending hours reading articles on the site, which prompted me to write a letter of kudos to the owner, Cassandra Radcliff. I also asked her if she'd like to host some articles for my readers. :) I was extremely pleased when she wrote back with a yes, and now she will be periodically contributing guest articles. I often receive questions from readers pertaining to gardening, so now I hope to address some of those questions while at the same time learning from her in the process. Below is her first contribution to the…

EZ How to Make a FREE Worm Factory (video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r7eEPfGjR8 This dude has the right idea! While I doubt this works as well as an actual Worm Factory (short, stacking trays), it's still a great start to see what you think of vermicomposting. This is more or less the same process as building your own worm bin from a Rubbermaid tub. If you use 2 tubs (the bottom tub is for collecting leachate), it will basically function in the same manner as this. In my experience, worms do better in a shallow environment, so a short Rubbermaid tub would most likely outperform a bucket... however, whichever you can get your hands on is the best for you. Go to any grocery store and ask for some food grade plastic buckets (food grade means the plastic doesn't leach into the…

Worm Cocoons in Vermicompost?

Worm castings are tricky, aren't they? They can be soggy and have lots of unprocessed material encased in castings, used in containers to grow stuff, dry out and show what they're really like. I've noticed that my worm castings that I recently removed from the Worm Inn system dried out in the sun quite fast and revealed a bunch of little purple eggs. What are these things? After doing a little reading and talking to the dude Bentley over at redwormcomposting.com, I learned that they were worm cocoons. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't really know. Reproduction is obviously a good thing. However, I'm learning that the cocoons may be worms laying more eggs in response to a dry or unhealthy worm system. They…