How to Make a Nightcrawler Compost Bed

Worms make excellent composters, creating nutrient-rich material from kitchen and yard waste. The process of creating compost using worms is called vermicomposting. The compost created is ideal for your garden as it enriches the soil, promotes plant growth and improves the environment by reducing waste in landfills. Setting up a worm compost bed takes a little more time than a standard compost bed but the steps are easy and the results is great compost and great worms for fishing.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic bin or old dresser drawer
• Leaves
• Newspapers
• 1,000 worms
• Kitchen waste

Instructions

Make a Compost Bed

1. Drill a dozen 1/2-inch holes along the bottom of your plastic bin or dresser drawer.

2. Shred the newspaper into small scraps and layer it on the bottom of the bin or drawer.

3. Take some leaves, crush them up and mix them with the shredded newspaper in your bin.

4. Spray the layer of newspaper and leaves with water until it is all moist.

5. Add the worms on top of the layer of leaves and newspapers in your bin.

6. Wait one day for the worms to get situated before adding kitchen waste.

7. Add a layer of kitchen waste and yard waste to the bin and let the worms do their magic.

Tips & Warnings

• Kitchen waste can include fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, breads, crackers and cereals.

• Make sure yard waste (leaves and grass clippings) do not contain fertilizers or pesticides as this could kill your worms.

References

• Wikipedia - Vermicompost
• Vermicomposting
• Vermicomposting and Vermiculture