Vermicomposting: from Kitchen to Greenway

Vermicomposting, using worms to convert organic waste into nutrient-rich compost, is quickly becoming popular with gardeners looking for a simple and sustainable method to dispose of their kitchen waste and get rich compost in return. All that’s required are worms, a bin to house them, bedding for them to live in, and food for them to process.

Vermicomposting (also called vermiculture) is an integral part of the Greenway Conservancy’s organic landscape management program. This week, we introduced a vermiculture bin to the lunchroom kitchen in our office. The jury is still out about the aesthetics and creepiness-factor of having a bin of worms next to the coffee machine, but we are unanimous in our support of vermiculture! This summer we’ll watch our new kitchen friends be fruitful and multiply.  We’ll build a larger composter to handle organic material from the Greenway gardens, and reintroduce the worm castings into the parks’ soils. We’ll let you know how it goes with updates to this blog and our Facebook page.

Wanna join in? Click here for some in-depth recommendations from our Horticulture Staff on how you too can start reaping the benefits of vermicomposting. Let us know how it goes by writing [email protected]. We’d love to feature some success stories!

Or, if you using vermiculture now, let us know how you’re doing by writing [email protected].

Further reading
Vermicomposting serves as sustainable method to recycle kitchen waste, produce fertilizer, and even produce more worms for use as bait or in other vermicomposting systems. If you are interested in starting a worm bin for yourself, a must read is Mary Appelhof’s Worms Eat My Garbage.  And, many vermicomposting resources can be found on line.  Try a keyword search for vermicomposting or vermiculture.