Houzz TV: Make a Worm Bin for Rich Soil and Happy Plants
A worm-powered compost bin that can fit under a sink turns food scraps into a powerful amendment for your garden. Here’s how to make one
Annie Thornton
May 10, 2016
Houzz Editorial Staff
Gardening with worms, you say? Exactly. Vermicomposting, the process of composting with worms, not only creates a nutrient-rich amendment for your soil and plants, but also saves you from throwing out your fruit and vegetable scraps. And you don’t need a backyard to do it — under the kitchen sink can work.
Evan Marks, founder and executive director of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, California, shows how to assemble and maintain your own worm-powered compost factory bin.
Evan Marks, founder and executive director of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, California, shows how to assemble and maintain your own worm-powered compost factory bin.
Worm Bin Tools and Materials
- A tub large enough to accommodate a 15- to 20-gallon plastic bin
- A couple of wood blocks or bricks
- A lidded 15- to 20-gallon plastic bin drilled with several quarter-inch holes in the bottom for drainage and smaller holes on the sides for ventilation
- Shredded newspaper (a nontoxic and absorbent bedding material)
- Squirt bottle
- Food scraps (leaf lettuce, cabbage, carrot tops and other uncooked leafy greens)
- A couple of handfuls of soil to help start the decomposition process
- 1 pound of red wiggler worms (they like to eat food scraps and paper)
Making Your Worm Bin
In the tub, lay down the blocks and set the plastic bin on top.
Layer the plastic bin like a lasagna, starting with the newspaper. First, put a couple of inches of ripped newspaper in the bottom of the bin; you want good air circulation, so don’t pack it down. Use a water-filled squirt bottle to moisten the newspaper until it feels as wet as a wrung-out sponge.
Next, put a layer of food scraps a couple of inches deep on top of the newspaper. It’s best to start with leaf lettuce, cabbage and other easily digestible veggies; later, you can add denser compost items.
Add soil and worms. The soil adds micro-organisms to the bin and helps with the worms’ digestion when they’re starting out in the bin.
Top with another layer of newspaper, making sure to completely cover the worms and food scraps. Moisten the newspaper with a few squirts of water and secure the lid on the bin.
Storing Your Bin
Store your bin in a cool, dry place that’s convenient and close to the kitchen. If you plan to keep your worm bin outside, make sure the top is secured so animals can’t get into it and put it in a protected area that doesn’t experience extreme temperature swings. Your worm bin shouldn’t smell, so you can store it under the kitchen sink if you’d like.
In the tub, lay down the blocks and set the plastic bin on top.
Layer the plastic bin like a lasagna, starting with the newspaper. First, put a couple of inches of ripped newspaper in the bottom of the bin; you want good air circulation, so don’t pack it down. Use a water-filled squirt bottle to moisten the newspaper until it feels as wet as a wrung-out sponge.
Next, put a layer of food scraps a couple of inches deep on top of the newspaper. It’s best to start with leaf lettuce, cabbage and other easily digestible veggies; later, you can add denser compost items.
Add soil and worms. The soil adds micro-organisms to the bin and helps with the worms’ digestion when they’re starting out in the bin.
Top with another layer of newspaper, making sure to completely cover the worms and food scraps. Moisten the newspaper with a few squirts of water and secure the lid on the bin.
Storing Your Bin
Store your bin in a cool, dry place that’s convenient and close to the kitchen. If you plan to keep your worm bin outside, make sure the top is secured so animals can’t get into it and put it in a protected area that doesn’t experience extreme temperature swings. Your worm bin shouldn’t smell, so you can store it under the kitchen sink if you’d like.
Maintaining Your Worm Bin and Harvesting Worm Castings
Marks adds scraps to his bin once or twice a week, but it may take a couple of months for the decomposition to get going. Chopped fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds, tea leaves and crushed eggshells can be added to the bin. Don’t use meat, bones, fat or dairy. Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of moist newspaper bedding every time you add scraps to the bin.
Continue to check on your worm bin once or twice a week to add more scraps and monitor the moisture level, maintaining that feeling of a wrung-out sponge. Mist it with water when necessary. If your bin is too dry, nothing will break down. If your bin is too wet, it can become anaerobic. Loosen it up with a trowel and add dry shredded newspaper to balance out the moisture.
A black substance called worm castings should appear at the bottom of the bin in a couple of months. Use this nutrient-rich amendment on all your plants, making sure to leave the worms and food that hasn’t broken down in the bin. Layer a tablespoon or so on indoor plants and a handful or so on outdoor plants as a top dressing. Worm castings not only benefit your plants, they also add structure to the soil.
More Wormy Goodness
Although you don’t want too much moisture in the worm bin, you’re likely to have liquid drain out the bottom. This nutrient-rich liquid (called leachate) can also be used as an organic plant fertilizer. It’s very concentrated, so you should dilute it to 1 part leachate to at least 10 parts water, then use it as a fertilizer on houseplants and outdoor plants.
Marks adds scraps to his bin once or twice a week, but it may take a couple of months for the decomposition to get going. Chopped fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds, tea leaves and crushed eggshells can be added to the bin. Don’t use meat, bones, fat or dairy. Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of moist newspaper bedding every time you add scraps to the bin.
Continue to check on your worm bin once or twice a week to add more scraps and monitor the moisture level, maintaining that feeling of a wrung-out sponge. Mist it with water when necessary. If your bin is too dry, nothing will break down. If your bin is too wet, it can become anaerobic. Loosen it up with a trowel and add dry shredded newspaper to balance out the moisture.
A black substance called worm castings should appear at the bottom of the bin in a couple of months. Use this nutrient-rich amendment on all your plants, making sure to leave the worms and food that hasn’t broken down in the bin. Layer a tablespoon or so on indoor plants and a handful or so on outdoor plants as a top dressing. Worm castings not only benefit your plants, they also add structure to the soil.
More Wormy Goodness
Although you don’t want too much moisture in the worm bin, you’re likely to have liquid drain out the bottom. This nutrient-rich liquid (called leachate) can also be used as an organic plant fertilizer. It’s very concentrated, so you should dilute it to 1 part leachate to at least 10 parts water, then use it as a fertilizer on houseplants and outdoor plants.
Related Stories
Landscape Design
What Will We Want in Our Landscapes in 2024?
Discover seven trends that landscape designers predict homeowners will be bringing into their outdoor spaces this year
Full Story
Spring Gardening
8 Tips to Get Your Early-Spring Garden Ready for the Season
Find out how to salvage plants, when to cut back damaged branches, when to mulch and more
Full Story
Winter Gardening
How to Prune Your Fruit Trees in Winter
Garden chores may slow down this season, but pruning your fruit trees now means healthier plants that will produce more
Full Story
Winter Gardening
Get a Head Start on Planning Your Garden Even if It’s Snowing
Reviewing what you grew last year now will pay off when it’s time to head outside
Full Story
Landscape Design
Pros Share Their Top Plant Picks for a Low-Maintenance Yard
Landscape pros weigh in on the plants they’d use — and ones they’d avoid — to create an easy-care garden
Full Story
Landscape Design
10 Tips for Planting a Beautiful, Low-Maintenance Landscape
Landscape pros share their advice for planning a garden that’s easy to care for
Full Story
Gardening Guides
12 Gardening Ideas You Can Count as Resolutions
See how to set up your outdoor areas for more enjoyment next year and make them a bit more earth-friendly in the process
Full Story
Holidays
Last-Minute Ideas for Attractive Winter Container Designs
Create a welcoming holiday entryway with ideas from these 9 looks
Full Story
Winter Gardening
8 Tips for Keeping Your Houseplants Healthy in Winter
Reduce watering, stop fertilizing, move them into the light and more
Full Story
Fall Gardening
7 Reasons Not to Clean Up Your Fall Garden
Before you pluck and rake, consider wildlife, the health of your plants and your own right to relax
Full Story
We have a hamster... could you put his used bedding materials (sawdust) into a vermicomposter?