Benefits of Organic Gardening and How to Build a Successful
Vermicomposting Bin
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Benefits of Composting
Types of Composters
Short Garden Tour (Weather Permitting)
How-to: Vermicompost
Build your own bin
Questions?
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Reduce or eliminate the need for chemical
fertilizers.
Promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
Cost-effective
Avoids Methane and leachate formulation in
landfills.
Healthier plants
Better for your body
Reduces the need for water, fertilizers, and
pesticides.
Carbon: Nitrogen Ration
30:1 (Basically, you need more brown than green)
Carbon “Browns”:
 Ashes, wood
 Bark
 Cardboard, shredded
 Corn stalks
 Leaves
 Newspaper, shredded
 Peanut shells
 Peat moss
 Pine needles
 Sawdust
 Stems and twigs, shredded
 Straw
 Vegetable stalks
Nitrogen “Greens”
 Alfalfa
 Algae
 Clover
 Coffee grounds
 Food waste
 Garden waste
 Grass clippings
 Hay
 Hedge clippings
 Hops, used
 Manures
 Seaweed
 Vegetable scraps
 Weeds*
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Backyard Composting
 Open Bin
 Closed Bin
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Vermicomposting
Indoor (Kitchen) Composting
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Red Wigglers
They don’t burrow
Eat half their body weight
 Put a pound of worms in (about 1000 worms),
then they’ll eat ½ pound of food/day
They’re hermaphroditic
 Can be used as bait for fishing
 Ordered from Living Science at
Region 20, online, or bait shops
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Worms eat recycled food scraps
As the worms eat, the food becomes
compost
It exits the worms body through the tail end
Worm “tea” is left over and can be used as
soil amendments
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Find a storage bin with a loose fitting lid or
one with holes in the lid
Cover the bottom with a carbon base
 Newspaper
 Dry leaves
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Add vegetables and some fruit
Leave in a cool, dark place
Drain leachate when you see it forming at the
bottom
Do:
 Add food scraps once/week or as needed
 Leave in a dark environment
 Drain leachate once it gets full at the bottom
(once you can see it puddling)
Don’t:
 Add meat, dairy, oily foods
 Leave in full sun
 Leave the lid open (they’ll leave!)
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Worm Composting Basics
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Vermicomposting
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http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/tools/greenscapes/pubs/compost-guide.pdf
Cornell Compost Science
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http://www.organicgardeningguru.com/composting-101/carbon-nitrogen-ratio/
Guide to Composting
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http://www.epa.gov/compost/
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/fundamentals/needs_placement_structures.htm
Organic Gardening Basics
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http://home.howstuffworks.com/vermicomposting1.htm
Composting for Facilities Basics
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http://compost.css.cornell.edu/worms/basics.html
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html
Composting Science – Univ. of Illinois
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http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/science.cfm