Building a new worm bin

This is super easy! Everyone should give it a try! My worm bin is pretty easy to maintain, reduces how much trash we produce and will give us great fertilizer for my container garden. Plus it's pretty entertaining :D

I have 2 lids for my bin, one with holes, one without. When it rains, I put the one without on top so the rain doesn't pool on top and run in through their ventilation holes. It rained and I forgot. Oops. So the worms are soaked and unhappy. I checked on them and their bedding is sopping, and a bunch of worms all up the sides. So I decided it's as good a time as any to divide the bin, something I've been planning to do for a few weeks.

I made the new bin a couple weeks ago, but didn't fill it until today. It's really easy!

Here's what you'll need to make your own worm bin:

1-2 old Rubbermaid style storage tubs

2 lids, or 1 lid and 1 solid cover
a waterproof support like a couple bricks, cinderblocks, small flowerpots
another tub or lid to use as a drip tray, optional

1 paper grocery bag of shredded cardboard, newspaper, dead dry leaves or a mix, moistened

fruit or veggie scraps

1 lb or so red wigglers worms

a drill and fairly large drill bit

Just take an old Rubbermaid style tub and drill holes all over it on all sides, including the lid to create a ventilated tub. Mine has some dry leaves in it already in the pic, but you can see the holes all over.

To assemble the tub, place the bricks on top of drip tray (spare lid or 2nd tub without holes). Put the ventilated tub on top of the bricks. Once it's in place, begin to fill it. Place a layer several inches thick of moistened shredded newspaper, cardboard or dry leaves. I like to save thin brown cardboard boxes, paper bags, toilet paper tubes and newspaper for this. Before adding to the bin, moisten it lightly. I dumped some rain water on it. You want it damp, but barely damp. It will absorb more moisture from the food you add. The worms really seem to like soft corrigated cardboard. Avoid any glossy paper and try to avoid color inks. No plastic windows from envelopes, staples or other noncompostables. This will be the worms' bedding, it helps keep the right moisture level and prevent odors, but it will also be consumed.

Now that the worms have a nice bed, they'll need something to eat. Fruit and veggie trimmings, bread, rice or cereal are good choices. If you're using banana peels or much fruit, I'd microwave it first to avoid fruit flies - voice of experience!

Only several handfuls are needed to start. Scatter it over the top of the bedding. Add your worms in with their food. It looks like I added a huge amount of food, but most of that is soggy stuff from the old bin. I scooped out a bunch of worms and old bedding from the old bin to start this bin.

Next it's time to tuck them in. Add another layer a couple inches thick of bedding material, your moistened cardboard or paper. You want all the food and wormy layer to be covered. Last, place your lid on top. One with holes is good for everyday use, but if it's raining put a solid lid on top so your worms won't drown. I didn't get a picture of it with bedding on top or a lid, I was working fast to avoid getting rained on.

To maintain your bin, keep it somewhere protected. They can take a light freezing after the bin is established, but it's best to keep them in the garage or basement if temperatures will be below the 40s at night for more than a couple days. They slow down eating when they're cold, so make sure you're not over feeding during cool weather.

To feed them, just scoop back the top layer of bedding and add new scraps then recover it. Try to go in a circle so by the time you dig up a spot again they've had time to eat what was there. I like to toss the contents around a bit when I feed them, to see what they're eating and make sure the worms are looking content. Add food slowly at first, a handful every couple days or a week, until you can judge how much they'll eat before it begins to rot. My worms seem to love banana peels, beans, Cheerios, lettuce and apple cores.

If it's too wet or you notice an odor, add more bedding. If it's too dry, sprinkle with water. When the bin is all full of nice powdered casings (worm poo) it's time to harvest! But mine isn't ready yet, so that'll be another day :)

I fed my old bin at the same time, some old salad, then tossed around some new bedding and more on top to make up for leaving the ventilated lid on and them getting too wet. Here's the bin after a little stirring around and feeding, see all the unhappy worms on the lower edge? They're hard to see, but trust me, they're there. I knocked a bunch of them back into the bin too.

Since the new bin is a secondary, I just stacked it on top of the old one. I'll create a drip tray for it another day, it's pouring today and I barely had enough of a break in the rain to put the new bin together today. Here they are all stacked. The bottom grey bin is my drip tray, the green bin is my old worm bin, the top grey bin is the one I just put together.