Troubleshooting Compost Piles

Texas Manure Fact

The nearly 3 million beef cattle, 1.1 million hogs, 330,000 dairy cows, 90.4 million broiler chickens, and 13.8 million egg-laying hens on factory farms in Texas produce as much untreated manure as 430 million people — more than the entire U.S. population.

Gardening to Distraction: Composting with worms

By Charlotte Wiggins

The Rolla Daily News

There are a number of ways to compost. The easiest way, by far, is with worms. Vermacomposting is basically building a safe place where red wriggler worms can live and collect their poop.

Worms are part of nature's recycling, turning most edibles into nutrient-rich byproducts that, mixed in with soil, add minerals and nutrients that feed soil micro-organisms.

Soil is an amazing ecosystem, although it's not surprising we don't quite appreciate it in mid-Missouri since we have so little of it.

Enter red wriggler worms, the kind you find under piles of dead leaves or dried grass. Red wrigglers can consume about half their weight in food every day.

When composting with worms, it's best to start with one pound of worms for around $20, not including shipping. To figure out how many worms you need, you need twice the weight of your worms in kitchen scraps a week.

Composting with worms has several advantages. If I have a plant that is starting to look sick, I gather a few tablespoons of vermacompost and mix it in the potted soil.  Within days, the plant perks up and, in most cases, loses whatever was ailing it.

Vermacompost is also handy to add to raised beds that need an extra boost to finish out the growing season.

There are a couple of ways you can easily keep worms.

Most experts talk about starting inexpensively with a couple of plastic containers that fit inside of one another. Add holes in the bottom of one, as well as the sides and lid, and put that container inside the other one.

The magic comes after you add water-soaked torn newspaper for bedding and kitchen scraps in the corners. Add a handful of red wrigglers, place in a cool, dark spot and wait for the worms to eat through the scraps. That works well unless you feed them watermelon rinds. Then the main container ends up sitting in a lot of water. Use the water, diluted, to feed potted plants.

The other challenge is making sure you keep worms fed. If the worms run out of food - yep, they'll start crawling out of the container.

There's a third consideration in how big to go with your worm bin - smaller is better. I ended up with a container that, once full of paper and scraps, I could barely lift.

To keep my worms healthy, I splurged on a several-tiered "worm farm" with holes in the bottom of stacked trays. Worms can easily move among the trays and, more importantly, I can easily lift the trays to harvest composted materials.

I also discovered that if I mimic the worms natural environment and give them leaves and cardboard as cover, they tend to stay put.

he stacked container fits nicely in the furnace room corner so worms can spend winter inside and I can keep composting through cold weather.

If you're interested in learning how to vermacompost, or any other forms of composting, come by the Saturday, Sept. 14, Rolla Farmers Market off Highway 63 North from 9-11 a.m. I'll be there with other experienced gardeners demonstrating the various kinds of composting as well as recycling with rain barrels.

Did I mention red wrigglers also make great fishing bait?

Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a certified gardener sharing gardening tips in a changing climate at http://www. gardeningcharlotte.com.

 Copyright 2013

7 Nutrient Rich Brews Your Plants Will Love

Sure you can buy fertilizers and soil additives to help boost your garden’s production, but did you know you can also take advantage of waste from Mother Nature and household scraps that you’d normally toss?

These too can promote blooms and plant growth and they’re so simple to make!

Here are a few recipes to try, basically all you need is one or two items, a bucket, some water and a bit of time. Allow to brew outside and voila! You have your own secret garden food that your plants will thank you for  .

Seaweed/Kelp: If you live near the ocean, lucky you! Collect dried seaweed from the beach (near cold-water only), rinse well to wash off salt then put in a barrel. Cover with water (to the top), cover with a lid and allow to brew for at least two months. To use: dilute with water to make a spray. Can help speed up flower and fruit production.

Boiled Vegetable Water: (always unsalted) After boiling vegetables, allow the water to cool then pour it on soil around your plants. The water is infused with goodies that the veggies have left behind.

Kitchen Scrap Infusion: Save vegetable peelings in a small bucket, cover with boiling water and allow to steep overnight (up to 2 days). In the morning, strain and use to water your plants. Use only plant based scraps and not meat or dairy.

Yard Refuse Infusion: Same idea as the kitchen scraps, this time using grass clippings (if pesticide-free), leaves, twigs, dead flower heads and anything else that you rake up or prune/deadhead. Store in a pail, cover with water and allow to steep for about a week or so (covered). When ready to use, strain out the bits (add them to your compost pile if you have one) and use the infused water in your garden. The downfall with this recipe is that it may contain seeds that the straining doesn’t catch.

*Tip: Feel free to combine both the kitchen scraps and yard refuse items into one big brew pail, it’s all good!

Manure Tea: This can be used as an all-purpose fertilizer and applied every 2 to 3 weeks. Add a shovelful of well-rotted manure to a 5-gallon pail, fill with water then leave it to sit overnight. Apply to soil only and don’t let it come in contact with leaves or stems. Mentioned previously on this page.

Compost Tea: Rich in nutrients, all you need is a pail full of water, a shovelful of compost and some time (from 3 to 7 days). You’ll find all the details on this page.

Boiled Eggs Water: After eggs have boiled, there will be traces of calcium left behind in the water. Wait till it’s cool before using. I come across this tip frequently in vintage household articles and is especially recommended for African Violets. It’s thought to help with bloom and plant growth (previously mentioned on this vintage tips page:Old-Time Tips For Garden Tenderfeet).