Today I visited Burnaby Red Wigglers and met Bintoro Gunadi, founder and Soil Biologist. It was fascinating having him explain what the worms are, what they need, and what to expect. I took home two handfuls of worms and a bag of worm cocoons and inoculum. When I got home my gardening friend, Honami, stopped by and showed me how to set up my worm nest in a food waste bucket. We added leaves and torn up paper to the small amount of food waste in the bucket. Then we tipped the bag of worms in, covering them with the inoculum. We left them to do their magic with a lid on the bucket, carefully placed in a shady area out of direct sun. Going forward, we will put the garden waste in the outdoor bins, and that is also where we will put our coffee grounds. They are too acidic for the worms to enjoy. So now we have a kitchen compost for food waste that is growing worms. I cannot explain how satisfying it feels to have this worm culture start up. The worms are so quiet and ...
Adele waits patiently in her crate while the caregiver gives Mom her morning personal care. Now that I am committed to setting up a comprehensive in-home composting system, I am thinking more deeply about the flow of organic waste throughout our household. Yard waste - leaves, weeds, grass clippings Kitchen waste Non-dairy, non-meat food waste Dairy, meat food waste Worm farming - feeding the worms yard and kitchen waste Pet waste - composting dog waste The heat is hitting us this week and with it comes the reminder that the dog waste waiting for collection from the City is also sitting and heating up. I am thinking about how to process the waste that cannot go into the yard waste, non-dairy/non-meat kitchen waste and worm farm. This is another stream for composting that will be suitable for fertilizing ornamental plants, not for the food garden. What I am going to do is set up a compost for pet waste, meat and dairy waste. This compost is going to be critter proof and specifical...
The new composter is assembled and ready for service. Mom read Pogo aloud while I tightened the 64 nuts and bolts to complete assembly. Setting up the shade garden and worm farm has led me to take a close look at our composting system. Previously we had thrown all organic waste into the city green bin. The bushels of leaves that fell from the Lombardi Poplar were bagged up and hauled away. My priorities have changed and the value of this green waste has gone up significantly. Our theory for shade garden success is that we are going to need a vigorous and vital soil habitat for the plants to draw maximum nourishment during the hours when they have direct sun. The soil on this property was severely impacted by a gigantic cedar hedge that surrounded the yard for 30 years. After the hedge was removed, there was major construction when we excavated to put a new basement under our 1911 house. This year we hauled 5 cubic yards of composted soil from the City. All these events have contr...
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