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Synthetic fertilizer is made from petroleum and it poses a triple threat to the environment. When oil is extracted, processed, and transported, it produces greenhouse gases. Synthetic fertilizer also is unstable and will release additional gasses as it breaks down. Finally, synthetic fertilizer washes away when it rains, contaminating rivers, lakes, and bays with nutrients that can cause algal blooms.

Instead of using synthetic fertilizer, you can improve the health of your garden with home made compost. There are plenty of ways to make earth friendly fertilizer by composting your food scraps, and doing so also cuts down on the amount of gas that the garbage truck burns. Instead of throwing valuable nutrients into the landfill, change your habits and save a few bucks too!

Compost can be made in several different ways. You can use a compost pile, compost trenches, a composter, or a worm bin. Each of these methods produces humus that can be used around the yard. Humus is well balanced soil that contains an ideal mix of nutrients, retains water better than depleted topsoil, and has a rich, healthy color. Humus is also gentle on young plants, because it’s easy for their roots to burrow through.

A compost pile is one of the oldest ways to make compost. Simply stack together branches, twigs, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps in a clearing in your yard. Every couple weeks, take a spade or pitchfork and stir the contents together. Fresh ingredients can be stacked on top of the pile, and finished compost will settle to the bottom.

Compost trenches offer similar results with lower maintenance. When you have a big pile of kitchen scraps, simply dig a deep hole in the ground and bury the organic waste. A 4-6 foot deep hole is about the right depth. Shallow trenches are also useful, but they can attract unwanted animals like possums, skunks, and rodents. Shallow trenches are also a bad idea in certain areas because they stink.

Enclosed composters give a great deal of control over compost and they offer protection from the weather as well as small animals. Compost bins are available in various styles. Tumbling models will aerate the compost for you, while stationary models require turning in the same way that compost piles do. Composting bins can accelerate the decomposition process because they offer insulation and they compress compost ingredients into a small space where the heat that bacteria produce will build up. Finally, when the compost is finished, enclosed composters make it easy to transport humus by rolling or pushing the bin to the spot where it’s needed.

Vermicomposting bins are a unique variation on compost bins. They use small animals such as worms or grubs to break compost down into soil. As the animals eat scraps, they will digest them into soil and use the energy to breed.

No matter which method you choose to produce compost, this natural fertilizer is a great alternative to chemical fertilizer. By composting organic waste, you can make your slice of the world a healthier, more natural place to live!

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When disposing of manure, composting is a quick and efficient way to get rid of the mess. Each type of manure should be treated differently though. Manure from herbivores has very different types of bacteria than manure from omnivores and predators. If you raise cattle or sheep, their manure has very few pathogens and can be composted easily. Droppings from cats or dogs require special treatment, and they should only be handled with protective gear such as gloves and face masks.

Cow patties make a great compost starter for compost piles or composters. Manure from sheep, cows, rabbits, llamas, goats, hamsters, and similar animals is a “green” compost – high in nitrogen and aerobic bacteria. This type of manure should be stirred into compost heaps and added when turning compost piles. It makes a great accelerant, but should be balanced with carbon rich compost to avoid overheating.

Horse manure is a unique case, because horses love to eat wildflowers and weeds but they don’t have a particularly efficient stomach system. Often, the seeds of these weeds will pass through the horse intact, and they can grow from horse droppings. Horse patties can be used in compost just like other plant eater’s manure, but they should only be used in situations where the compost pile reaches gets hot enough to sterilize the seeds. That requires sustained temperatures in the 140-160 degree range (anything cooler than that and the seeds will survive, anything hotter than that and there’s a risk of spontaneous combustion). Horse manure can also be used in worm bins, because worms will eat the seeds and prevent germination.

Waste from meat eating animals should not be mixed with food scraps. Poop from cats, dogs, lizards, and snakes is often contaminated with harmful bacteria such as e coli. Not only are pet droppings unhealthy to touch, but these bacteria can interfere with proper decomposition in a compost pile. Stomach bacteria are generally anaerobic, and they work using slower mechanisms than aerobic bacteria. Anaerobes can also linger in the soil, where they attack the roots of plants and contaminate food grown in that area.

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Farming with worms is a simple way to turn food scraps into organic fertilizer. Worms are quick workers, and they don’t sleep. They work 24 hours a day, and don’t take any holidays. Worms breed faster than rabbits, plus their birth rate is boosted even further because there’s no need to kill them to harvest their work. As worms eat vegetable scraps and fruit rinds, they turn trash into soil. Their worm castings are rich in healthy bacteria, as well as worm cocoons that each contain 2-50 baby worms. Worm castings can be harvested simply by sifting the soil from a worm bin.

When composting with worms, you can use either a compost trench or a compost bin. Compost trenches are simply holes in the ground full of compost. These compost middens can be difficult to dig, especially if you make them deep enough to keep animals from burrowing into the trash. To control odor, compost trenches should be dug at least 6 feet into the ground. This is the perfect depth for Nightcrawler worms (which are also known as Common European Earthworms, Tiger Worms, or Angleworms). A hole that’s one-foot in diameter will hold about 5 gallons of compost, and a 12 ounce tub of earthworms will be able to process that compost in 1-2 months. A shallow trench can also be used within a fenced garden or any area protected from rats, badgers, and other scavengers. Dig the trench 6-8 inches deep, and then add Red Wiggler worms. These worms work close to the surface and will generally stick to the area that you’ve dug up for them, because the loose turned soil is easy to tunnel through.

Digging compost trenches is hard work, and compost bins are an easier alternative. Instead of digging a new hole every time you have compost, you can simply lift the lid and add compost to your vermicomposting bin. Worm farms will not only protect your worms from predators (such as birds and snakes) but they will also keep the worms from wandering away into your neighbor’s yard. Worm bins come in many different sizes and designs; you can make one yourself, or buy one and protect your thumbs from stray hammer blows.

When choosing a bin, the size you pick often depends on the number of people that live at your house. An average person produces about 2 square foot of organic waste per week, so your worm bin should have at least that much space per person living with you. Choose a bin with enough capacity to meet your peak needs, and maybe a little bit more. For example, if you have 2 people living in an apartment, an ideal size for a worm bin would be 4 or 5 square feet. If you often host relatives at your house for Thanksgiving dinner, there’s no need to count them towards your total, but if you have guests over for dinner every wednesday, you may want to get a slightly larger worm bin.

After you’ve picked out a worm bin, it’s important to put a biodegradeable lining into it. Worms don’t like the feel of plastic, wood, or metal against their skin, and extreme temperatures can stress them out. So, you should insulate your worm bin with shredded paper, strips of cardboard, peat moss, or coconut fiber. These materials will soak up water and help maintain a steady humidity level. They are also rich in carbon, while most food scraps have high levels of nitrogen. When worms need to snack on some carbon rich materials, they will nibble at the lining of the worm bin and choose a diet that meets their needs.

It’s important to add a thick layer of soil to your worm composting bin along with food scraps. Worms need soil in the same way that fish need water. They need it to ‘swim’ through, and it makes them feel comfortable. Soil will help buffer the acidity of any organic waste that you add, and it also provides a pathway for worms to burrow through. Soil also contains healthy organisms that will help the worms digest food scraps.

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There are thousands of different worms in the average backyard. They come in about 2,700 different varieties, and many of these species are rarely seen. Some worms are camouflaged to hide in plain sight, and others live deep underground and come to the surface only when they have to. After it rains, worms are easy to find because they breathe through their skin and are driven up to the surface and often climb onto concrete driveways and sidewalks. It’s easy to collect these worms for a compost bin, but there are important differences between the worm species you will encounter.

The Common European Earthworm (which is also called the nightcrawler) lives deep underground, with vertical burrows that go about 6 feet down. Night crawlers are commonly found in gardens or near compost piles, but this worm is ill-suited for compost bins. The nightcrawler’s scientific name is Lumbricus terrestris, and it is an anecic worm that doesn’t like to stay near the surface. If you put nightcrawlers in a compost bin, they will constantly try to escape through the bottom of the worm bin, and they will die from exhaustion instead of breeding or working the soil. Nightcrawlers are also sometimes called “tiger worms” because they have alternating red and buff stripes – those stripes make Nightcrawlers easy to identify.

For a vermicomposting bin, Red Wigglers are the best type of worm because they prefer to live near the surface. There are two very similar worms that are both called Red Wrigglers: Eisena fetida and Eisena andrei. Both species look very similar, and they can live side by side without any problems. As red wigglers eat organic waste, they blend it with soil in the bin. Compared to the original soil levels, their worm castings contain approximately 40% more humus, 150% more calcium, 300% more magnesium, 500% more nitrogen, 700% more phosphates, and 1100% more potash.

Here’s a pictorial worm guide that you can use to identify species in your garden. There are many endangered species of earthworm, and if you find a rare one, you can really help improve our knowledge of the species!

After you collect red wigglers, put them to work around your house! All it takes is a sheltered bin, scrap paper, some healthy soil, and your food scraps. Shredded paper goes along the bottom of the compost bin – this acts as a fence to keep worms inside and it also buffers to moisture of the bin. Since paper soaks up water, the layer of paper will help maintain a constant level of moisture similar to a wrung out sponge. Add a layer of soil to the shredded paper, and then bury food scraps under the soil. The soil acts like a highway for worms, and it also introduces healthy bacteria that will accelerate the breakdown of vegetable rinds and fruit pulp.

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Does your yard have terrible soil? If even mesquite trees and tumbleweeds struggle to survive, it’s still possible to save the ground and restore life to the most barren patch of dust. Instead of bringing in bags and bags of topsoil from somewhere else (where they were probably needed!), have you considered composting?

A compost pile or compost bin does 2 good things at once. Composting helps reduce the amount of garbage that you send to a landfill, and it produces nutrient rich soil that can be used to improve the health, water retention, and elasticity of your yard.

Compost is made from organic material and contains many of the elements that plants need in just the right balance. It also contains millions of good bacteria – the very bacteria that spread out into the surrounding earth and restart the cycle of life. Compost holds water very well, which can come in handy if your yard floods easily or has a runoff problem that depletes the soil. Compost is also light and fluffy, which means that it can be used to fill cracks in the ground and it will loosen up compacted soil.

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Does your town collect leaves in the fall and Christmas trees in January? Often, this garbage is taken to a central location and shredded for use in landscaping all around town. Throughout the year, tree trimmings and grass clippings are often added to municipal compost heaps. Many cities offer this mulch and compost made from this mulch for a fee. Depending on how much money your town spends to support the program, these community composting centers can offer high grade compost or questionable compost contaminated with unhealthy scraps.

There’s no need to go to the town compost pile. Instead, turn to your back yard and take control over the compost that you use. Home composters are available that can handle any amount of kitchen scraps or yard waste. There are large and small composters available in just about any shape or color. For the fastest results, there are even tumbling composters and worm composters.

Composting with worms is very rewarding, because worms do all of the work of aerating and turning a compost pile for you. Instead of using a pitchfork to turn partially decayed compost, you can sit back and relax, knowing that your worms are happily at work. Worms work at all hours of the day, and they will quickly reproduce until their numbers match the available food supply. This biological feedback loop ensures that worm bins break down food scraps quickly and without wasting any effort.

Worm composters are self contained, and they don’t require any expensive supplies. In fact, they take “worthless” trash and convert it into high quality fertilizer, which can add up to some big savings. Home composting reduces the volume of trash that you throw away, and some garbage companies charge based on volume. Vermicomposting also saves money because it reduces the cost of landscaping and creates a soil amendment that’s perfect for filling cracks or depressions in the yard.

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It’s easy to make compost at home. You can start a compost pile outside and put 3-6 months of back breaking labor into sorting and stirring your organic garbage with a rake. Or, you can outsource the hard work. No, I’m not talking about kidnapping Oompa Loompas — there are better workers who don’t sing and are less likely to cause headaches with OSHA. They’re even available at the local bait shop and pet store. I’m talking about worms.

Turning your kitchen scraps into compost is what worms enjoy doing. They dream of finding big piles of banana peels and coffee grounds! Give them exactly what they want, and you’ll have a happy workforce. To start your sweat shop, all you need is a worm bin. Prefab worm bins are available in wood, plastic, and metal – they’re all tailored to the special needs of worms. If you’re handy with tools, you can even make your own worm bin. Just make sure to choose or build a bin that offers protection from UV light, good ventilation, quick drainage, and shelter from predators.

When choosing a worm composter, there are a few rules of thumb that may help. You’ll need about two square feet of area per person who will be contributing to the bin. So, if you have 2 people in your living in your household, it’s best to start with a bin that’s at least 2 foot wide by 2 foot long (4 square feet). If you have 4 people, then an 8 square foot bin would be more appropriate. To keep rodents out, the holes should be no bigger than 1/4″ in diameter. The lid is also important – look for one that’s lightweight and easy to lift with one hand, but sturdy and opaque to UV light.

Line the bottom of your compost bin with shredded newspaper or paperwork (just watch out for metallic inks – avoid any magazine pages with glossy coatings or chemical residue). On top of the bedding, add the first pail of kitchen scraps, and then cover the food waste with a few shovelfuls of healthy soil. When the worm bin is ready, you also need to stock it with worms. Pick up a carton of Red Wigglers from the tackle shop, and pour them into your worm bin. You can also use other species of worms, but not all worms will do well in shallow worm bins.

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Healthy soil is full of worm castings. That’s the polite euphemism for worm poop – it sounds better than worm droppings or worm crap. No matter what you call this fertilizer, worm castings are a great natural way to boost the nutrient capacity of soil. Unlike cow patties or other excrement, worm castings are odor free. They’ve been reprocessed by a worms stomach multiple times, which means they’ve reached a stable, neutral state. Worms have done all the hard work of breaking down nutrients into their base components – these are simple building blocks that plants can work with easily.

Worm castings also contain several million helpful bacterium per gram. These helpful bacteria come from inside the stomach of worms. Just like the human body uses symbiotic organisms to digest food, worms also rely on the help of microscopic helpers. These bacteria remain active in vermicastings, and they will help make nutrients available to plants. Many soil bacteria help plants by converting nitrogen compounds into natural fertilizer underground. The enzymes produced by these bacteria also help break up soil debris, such as dead roots, wood chips, and clumps of earth that roots would otherwise have to waste time growing around. Worm castings have 10 to 20 times the microbial activity of topsoil where worms aren’t present.

Also, healthy soil bacteria allow plants to get more nutrients from the soil. When a plant drops a leaf onto the ground, it can take a long time for the nutrients in that leaf to break down into the soil. Soil bacteria accelerate this natural process by increasing the speed of nutrient cycling. Instead of waiting several years for the carbon, potassium, and nitrogen, plants are able to use and re-use the nutrients at a faster rate. This allows plants to grow at a much faster rate than they would otherwise.

As plants grow, they go through cycles of respiration and chemical synthesis. Each step of this process requires energy as the plants produce chemicals that they need, and that energy is not available for other life processes. A tree or flower that has to work hard to extract nutrients from the soil is more vulnerable to insect damage or disease. Active soil bacteria help make plants healthier by closing the loop and assisting in the synthesis of many amino acids, micro nutrients, and chemical precursors. They work like a surgical nurse in the hospital, passing tools along as they’re needed.

Worm castings are also great for soil structure because they retain moisture very well. Worm castings can hold 9 times their weight in moisture. This water capacity is similar to peat moss, mulch, and coconut fiber. That’s important because dry soil can harm plants by sucking the moisture out of their roots. If your soil is too dry, try mixing in some vermi compost. Since worm castings retain moisture, they can help your plants survive even in drought like conditions. When used as a soil amendment, worm castings reduce the danger of cracked foundations, erosion, and subsidence.

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Vermiculture is a word that can be confusing. What does it mean? The prefix, “vermi”, sounds unpleasant, like ‘vermin’, but Vermis is the Latin word for worm. That leads to the next question – how does one “culture” worms? Well, so far no one has had any luck teaching worms to enjoy the opera or visit art galleries. Instead, we’ve learned how to culture worms in the same way that milk curds are cultured to produce cheese. Just like cheese bacteria, it’s easy to raise worms and get them to do useful work at the same time that they grow up and reproduce.

Worms can reproduce very quickly, as many species are hermaphrodites. They can breed even if there are no other worms to mate with. Worms lay cocoons that contain anywhere from 2 to 50 baby worms. This rapid reproduction keeps the species alive in the wild, even though many different birds, snakes, and other predators try to eat them. Inside a worm bin, there are no predators so the worm population will grow quickly.

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Worm composting can be done indoors or outdoors. Many different containers are suitable for vermiculture. You can buy a custom built worm bin, or build your own using a wooden or plastic container, an old wash tub, barrels, sandboxes, dresser drawers, or even suitcases. The trick is to keep the worms happy. Maintain good air flow, keep the soil damp but not too wet, and give the worms plenty of food. Then, sit back and let them eat and reproduce around the clock. If you feel like it, go to the opera or check out a museum – the worms will still be working when you get back.

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Worms are nature’s own garbage disposal. They work quickly and turn shreds of garbage into smaller and smaller pieces. Soil passes through a worm about 5 times before reaching a well-balanced and stable form. Vermicomposting quickly turns fruit and vegetable scraps into nutrient-rich compost.

Worms make excellent pets, but they need a comfortable home to live in. Just like dogs need a doghouse to protect them from the rain, worms need a snug home that has just the right conditions. Worms need to be protected from sunlight, excess moisture, and predators. Worm bins offer all of this and more. The lid keeps rain and birds away, and a well constructed worm bin allows liquid to drain from the main compartment into a holding cell. This plant friendly liquid is called compost tea, and many worm bins have a spigot you can use to drain the compost tea for watering houseplants.

After you choose a worm bin with the right size and features, the first step is to put a layer of shredded paper, cardboard pieces, or coir in the main compartment. This “brown compost” is rich in carbon, and the worms will eat it slowly to supplement “green compost” food scraps (which are rich in nitrogen). It will also keep baby worms from falling through the gaps. Once this lining is in place, you should put in several shovelfuls of healthy soil. The amount of soil will depend on the size of the worm compost bin, but the ideal amount will produce a pile 3-6 inches deep. When you add scraps to the compost bin, it’s important to bury the worm food underneath this soil but above the lining.

There are foods that worms like and foods that are no good for them. The best foods are kitchen scraps, such as fruit scraps and vegetable peels. Tea bags, coffee grounds, and filters also work well. It’s best not to use meats, oils or dairy products, because those scraps can attract flies and other pests. Foods that have been cooked with oil or butter should also be avoided.

After the ingredients are ready, it’s time to get some worms! There are many different varieties of worm, but red wrigglers are the most popular. They’re also widely available at bait shops and pet stores (check the live food section). Red Wigglers are also called brown nosed worms, and their scientific name is Eisenia foetida. Unlike other worms, they like to stay close to the surface and will be happy in a shallow vermicompost bin.

After that, there’s not much to do. Add worm food regularly, and remember to drain the compost tea before the holding cell gets full. There is usually plenty of water in kitchen scraps to supply the worm’s needs, but if you live in a very dry or warm area, it may be necessary to occasionally add a little bit of water. When the worm composter gets full, or when the worms eat all of the lining material, then it’s time to empty out the vermicomposter and start again.

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