August 21, 2013

OG2013 Keeps Going & Going...Thanks to the Worms!

The Worm Wigwam continues to provide a sturdy, safe place for my worms to turn our kitchen and paper scraps into fluffy, organic garden superfood, AKA vermicompost.

And OG2013 (Organic Garden 2013 for you newbies!) is still going strong thankfully- the lettuce is unstoppable; cucumbers are plentiful; blackberries keep blooming; even the tomatoes are finally living up to their potential.

A few weeks ago, I took you on a quick journey back through my life and times with the Wigwam, but now it's time for a current worm bin update!

Recent summer scrap-portunities using my family worm bowls have been pretty berry/banana/lettuce heavy, with the exception of one minor incident where my dad included pizza crust (whaaaa? I said ORGANIC SCRAPS!). 

Here's one that's almost ready for feeding: 
worm food
Worm Central, AKA the corner of my basement, has really grown over the past few years. I have table space to put the display, cotton bags for shipping worms or vermicompost, and the rest of my organic garden tools and seeds:
worm wigwam and vermicomposting station
 Once the lid is lifted, things have been looking pretty normal- including some random seed sprouts:
worm wigwam vermicomposting
Being the curious worm farmer that I am, I can never resist pulling back the top layer and admiring the worm herd!
worm wigwam vermicompost
And what does all this amount to, you ask?

Amazing organic fertilizer!

For the flowers around my house, I mixed it into the dirt before planting (about a 1 part vermicompost to 3 parts soil), and have added a few tablespoons to the base of each plant twice this summer:
In OG2013, I added a heavy dose of vermicompost mixed in with the soil over the winter, and again when I planted the seedlings. I did one other application of a few teaspoons to the base of each plant one other time this summer, and I still have blackberries for my cereal and more cucumbers than you can...well, shake a cucumber at!
I'll admit, the last vermicompost application was not sifted...and had a few seeds floating around.  The result? These ROGUE PUMPKINS:
organic pumpkin

organic pumpkin plant
So I say:
organic lettuce
LETTUCE be thankful for WORMS!



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