If you have room for a bucket or shoebox, then you have room for a worm bin in your home. This is perfect for urban dwellers who may not have space for a compost tumbler or other large device. Making a worm bin is just as easy as it sounds: combine a few simple ingredients and add some easy to buy worms. You will then have a place to add your kitchen scraps and turn them into luscious fertilizer for anything you grow. Here are five essential items for creating a healthy worm bin. A worm bin will continuously create composted kitchen scraps that can be used for your gardens and indoor plants. No one even has to know that you have this hard-working team of composters unless you show them. In fact, you can have a huge bin right on the counter, and it is a conversation starter, but unless you share what is inside, it simply looks like you have a square Art Deco piece sitting there. From the author’s sense of humor to depth of knowledge on the subject of composting, this book will help you understand how simple it can be, and how important the few basics rules are to follow. There is an extensive section on worm composting, which walks you through the concept of cultivating and keeping a worm bin. Take a look at these simple and efficient bins. We have seen worms survive for three years in the bin you see pictured before being transferred to a larger bin for increased composting. The correct type of worm, Eisenia fetida or Red Wigglers, isn’t your average type of worm. They thrive in captivity, where the worms in your garden will certainly die when placed in the bin. They also reproduce prolifically and can eat their own body weight in scraps every day! These hard workers are easy to purchase as well. You can, of course, buy them online (start with one pound, for most indoor worm bins), or simply buy them at your local pet store. When buying from the pet store, they are often sold by number, so plan on buying 50 to 100 of them. You may have to specify that you need bait or feeder worms, so the person at the store understands you are looking for the live type of worm. If you do buy them from the pet store, remove all the bedding that comes with the worms, to avoid adding anything unwanted visitors to your bin. Cornmeal is the answer if you don’t have enough kitchen scraps to feed. To supplement kitchen scraps in your indoor bin, keep a bag of organic cornmeal in the pantry for just this reason. The obvious foods are the same as an outdoor compost pile: meat scraps, bones, and grease, but there are some not so obvious items, like onions and citrus fruits.
