Worm compost bin

by Janice
(Avon)

A few years ago my parents gave me a worm compost bin. The rest of the family fell about laughing over it because it was such an unusual gift. I was really pleased with it though.

The bin itself was very simple. It was a grey dustbin with a hinged lid. It had a tap at the bottom and there was a grill on short legs to keep the worm compost out of the worm tea that was produced. The bin also came with a start pack of compost and some worms to get it going with.

I carefully positioned the bin outside my back door so that it was in a position that would get some sunshine and some shade. This kept the worms comfortable and didn't let the compost dry out or overheat.

The instructions said to mix the starter compost with some shredded paper and vegetable peelings. I did this and then each day I added a few more peelings. Before long we had loads of worms and they were chomping their way through the veg peelings of a family of five.

The compost that they produced was amazing! It was beautifully dark, rich and soft. When we used it on the garden the plants just went mad.

When we moved to a different house I couldn't keep the worms any longer so I emptied out the bin and it stood unused for ages. I passed it on to someone on Freecycle who could make better use of it than I could.

Now, in another garden I'm composting again but not with a wormery. I have five compost bins at the bottom of my garden. The older ones are packed with tiger worms munching their way through my fruit and veg peelings, some grass from when the lawn is mowed and shredded paper from the paper shredder in the home office. The mixture of paper, grass and peelings seems to really suit the worms and they reward me with masses of lovely compost to feed my garden with.