WORM BIN REBOOT – PART 2

I am in the midst of rebooting my worm bin. If you missed Part 1, click HERE.

Is it necessary to re-boot your worm bin? No. I just hadn’t harvested worm poop in quite a while or added new dirt and my brain got stuck on imagining those poor wormies living in their own poop and knew I needed to do better for them. Yes, a bit dramatic on the imagined injustice but it just seemed like a re-freshening would be nice.

In Part 1, I moved all of the existing bedding to one end of the bin and put in fresh coconut coir for bedding on the newly emptied side. I’ve been feeding them on that side for a couple of weeks to get them to move from the old side. Worms are the ultimate definition of “food-motivated” and they definitely moved!

Today, I started Part 2 – sifting and removing the old bedding that I had piled up on one end of the bin.

As I dug and sifted colander upon colander of bedding, I recycled a goodly amount of the wood bits back into the bin. The wood has several purposes: 1) moisture – the wood stays moist longer than the “dirt” so it helps keep the moisture level in the bin steady, 2) aeration – the wood keeps the bedding from getting too compacted, 3) nutrition – wood balances the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, supporting a healthier environment for the worms, 4) entertainment – what worm wants to wiggle in a straight line when it can twist and turn around bits of wood obstacles? I mean, how boring would that be?

LOL, I’m just kidding about the last one!

It took some doing but I finally got down to the bottom of the bin.

I wish I could show you the difference in the richness of the “dirt” I removed compared to the new dirt I put in a couple of weeks ago. The camera just couldn’t pick it up though so you’ll just have to believe me when I say I can just envision some future plant closing its eyes in wonder and saying “AHHHH” when I use this stuff in the garden.

In the end, I got 4 gallon-size bags of lovely, luscious worm poop and 8 – 10 gallons of some of the loveliest compost ever. I’ll mix the compost into my garden soil at the beginning of the season and use the Gold as side dressing for my herbs, trees, and other perennials.

In preparation for the final step of this refreshening, I am re-hydrating two more bricks of coconut coir. Having learned lessons from Part 1, I put these bricks in a nice, roomy 5-gallon bucket. It will take a couple of days before I can go on to Part 3.

This project is almost done!