My Lazy Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting is a fancy way of saying "worms eat my garbage, and I get to keep their poop". You may already know that worm poop, or worm castings, as many gardeners delicately call it, is great for plants. I used to think that worm poop was just dirt, but I was mistaken. Worm castings are actually minerals covered in mucus? Disgusting! I can't believe the guy at the home and garden show tricked me into touching that stuff! Well, dirt or mucus covered minerals, worm castings are a great way to keep your plants growing strong.

My mom has a worm garden, purchased from the culprit who tricked me into touching worm-butt mucus. It's a container with several separate bins and a drainage system. She puts vegetable table scraps and old coffee grounds into the top bin and the worms come up to eat it. Later, they poop out their mineral rich manure, which we use to fertilize our gardens. It's a simple process that doesn't require much work and yields a lot of reward. And by reward, I of course mean poop.

So my mom feeds her worms, she mists them, and she turns their soil. This is the traditional way of vermicomposting, and; like I said, it isn't very difficult or time consuming. As easy as it is, I still don't want to deal with it. Mostly because I don't want to touch any worms, and now that I know they poop mucus covered mineral lumps, I don't want to touch their castings either.

I have found a simple solution. Every time I plant a pot in a container, I drop in a couple of my mom's worms. I have only just started this practice, and don't know if it works well or not. In theory, it seems to make sense. I keep the soil moist for the plants and that's how the worms like it. I drop in just the tiniest bit of food because there aren't a lot of worms in each pot. Even the dead leaves that I pick from my plants should be enough.

I don't expect an explosion in my worm population, and I don't think its going to be a great permanent home for the worms. Even if I move the pots into the garage in the winter, I think it would still be too cold for them. Until I get motivated enough to want to touch a worm, I am going to continue my lazy vermicomposting.