The Garden Girl (VIDEO): What Do You Get With Kitchen Scraps And A Worm Bin?

Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl, and her daughter Al, the Garden Kid, are probably the only people who could still be endearing as they weed through worm poop. The mother-daughter team have been composting their junk for the past year in a worm bin, planning to use the nutrient-rich soil on their indoor plants, Moreno explained:

"In here for about the last year or so, we've just been putting in newspaper, kitchen scraps, junk mail, just anything that we cut from any of the indoor plants. Now we're gonna do the big reveal. And I thought what we could do is we would scrape away the worm castings so we could use it in our indoor garden."

Ever the curious kid, Al asks what many of us are wondering: "What's a worm casting?"

"Basically, it's worm poop," Moreno replies. That explains the nutrients.

Moreno invites Gigi, possibly the cutest grandma ever, to take a look at their worm bin. Gigi appears skeptical, and her facial expressions when she learns they're dealing with worm poop are priceless.

CRINGE along with Gigi as you learn how to make your own nutrient-rich soil:
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Comments

[gbrooks]

09:08 PM on 01/06/2010

I've been composting for a year now and doing it the oId-schooI way. No worms, no nuthin' but a giant bin that I add scraps/paper/Ieaves to, keep wet and cover with some dirt to controI odors. I started my second bin now that it's snowing and I don't cover the scraps up at aII b/c the coId and snow controI the odors and the few squirreIs that dare to venture out get a snack.

[jadeba]

07:51 PM on 01/06/2010

My mom has a 5 story worm house in her kitchen - she cooks for those worms! The vermiculture is amazing fertilizer and the "tea" is a natural insecticide. BTW, Ikea sells vermiculture - they use worms to deal with all their cardboard and paper waste.

For those of you who can stomach it - check out the Prota Maggot bin - they don't call it that, I do. Amazing way to recycle your meat waste (worms won't touch it) and make protein rich fish and fowl food.

[PatA]

05:54 PM on 01/06/2010

NO animal products in your compost.......meaning anything from meat, milk, butter, etc. Anything from the table should be your "veggie" scraps.......
I live in central Texas where it gets very hot. I take my newspapers, tear them up and put them into a trash barrel..layer by layer. I pour water in and thoroughly soak the papers. Leave for a year.....when you think of it, put more water in.
You'll have some nice "rotted" paper and I put them down around my plants and then cover with dirt and water down very well......a peach tree that had given up had fabulous peaches the next year. I took an old bookcase and took the back off. You end up with a fence that will hold dirt and newspapers...Keep it wet. Beautiful stuff to put around your plants. I even put this in the bottom of all my pots and also in the bottom of holes I dig for plants. '
I lived in New Mexico for 10 years and gardened as the villagers do. The first thing that I learned was to dig a hold for your plant and fill it with water. When the water has seeped into the dirt and is gone.....plant your tree or plant. Fantastic tip!

[hidenout]

12:45 AM on 01/07/2010

Agreed, no meat scraps or anything dairy. But my girlfriend uses her compost in her organic garden, so no newspapers or junk mail with all the inks and whatnot. Just vegetable scraps.

She does use (black ink only) newspaper in her garden to control weeds. Works pretty well.

Awesome food. The best tasting broccoli I've ever eaten. It almost has a sweet flavor to it. Cabbage, pole beans, asparagus (we always struggle with it), potatoes, carrots, purple hull peas, lima beans (the only thing the deer won't eat for some reason, bastards!), corn, tomatoes. It is a lot of work, and I am a city boy, but it is well worth the effort. We call it her Victory Garden, in honor of the PoS economy.

I'll try the "dig a hole, water it and wait before planting" technique next season. What's the idea behind that....?

[EdRea]

04:51 PM on 01/06/2010

Instead of using a bin, a round container works better because you can roll it around to mix up the compost. You do this every day and the organic materials composts faster than if it sits stationary for days or weeks on end. A simple one for limited space is to just use 5 gallon buckets. Keep the lid off so it can breathe while it's sitting around and when ready to rotate, just fasten the lid on and roll it around on the ground. Of course, you can always buy one of those recycled plastic-made barrels that come on a stand with a hand crank from a garden supply company, but rolling it around is half the fun. And you're recycling a material (5 gallon buckets) that many restaurants and food producers throw away every single day, so it's free and most businesses are happy to let you have them.

[environman]

04:36 PM on 01/06/2010

Composting seems so beneficial. I've been researching it a little because I'm going to start a veggie garden in the spring.
There's some really great composting info, including videos, on this site. If you're interested you should definitely check it out:

sierraclubgreenhome.com

[leticia32]

11:49 AM on 01/06/2010

We have been composting with worms at my school for the past 10 years. The bins do not smell if treated correctly and they can be kept in the classroom. I have a large bin at home (outside), as well, I make a tea by pouring water in the top of the bin and letting in perculate through to the spigot at the bottom. I dilute this tea and pour it around plants. All kitchen plant scraps go in this bin. It is a no brainer.

My school recycles all "waste": paper, glass, metal, etc. and even cafeteria food is recycled. The first year we did it we saved our school district $5,000. by reducing the number of containers for garbage and this savings continues.

[environman]

04:31 PM on 01/06/2010

Wow, that's really amazing. I don't know if it's just the crappy school district here where I live, but NO schools do anything to recycle or promote recycling.

[johnnygoodwud]

10:01 AM on 01/06/2010

i started an indoor worm farm in my basement, no smell, no odor, just great natural stuff to add to my organic garden in the summer. you can order lives worms online to start yours.

[lotusgirl]

09:38 AM on 01/06/2010

I compost myself, but I don't have worms. Now, I gotta get some.

The three generations are so cute. I wish my mom was here to have that kind of fun with. She would react the exact same way.

This is a very sweet video!