Hello Earth-loving people from the planet!
Looked in the fridge this morning for something to eat, and realized it's time to feed my red wiggler composting worms. As you can see, I've already filled up a few yogurt containers with fruit and veggie peels. I keep these in the refrigerator to keep them semi-fresh until feeding day.
They don't add bad odor to the fridge at all.
Ah! hello there beautifuls!
Our red wigglers live in a dark, cool corner in the apartment.
I've noticed that if you leave them alone, they'll do their job in eating all the food you give them, there won't be any fruit flies, no bad odor and you'll see a lovely carpet of black gold (worm castings) on the very top of the pile. Plus, I've found that by leaving them alone, they seem to reproduce more too. I find more little green eggs and small baby worms.
Feeding time
Every month I alternate the side of the tub where I pour in the food. That way I don't mess with their zen too much. This is a month's worth of fruit and veggie peels that would otherwise go to the garbage:
Covering it up
I've also found that covering up the dirt after feeding does two things.
- It helps keep the fruit flies away
- It helps balance out the carbon content in your compost.
Sometimes when I put in too much green stuff, I've noticed that it gets watery and smelly. Apparently, it's because there's too much nitrogen-rich stuff in the mix.
Here's an article I found that goes into a little bit more detail. I just kind of get a feel for it. If it's slimy and stinky, there's too much greens and I need to add more dry leaves, cardboard or egg carton.
https://modernfarmer.com/2017/02/how-to-compost/
Label it
One last thing I do before putting the ladies in their dark corner is label the side where I put in the food scraps. This way I know the date and the side where they got fed.
I'm not a composting expert by any means, but if you'd like to have a conversation about what's worked in my urban composting bin, I'll gladly respond to your questions or comments.
have an awesome weekend and see you next month!