So you've been working on your garden at home, but every time you try to plant a tomato, you can't seem to get past the sprouting stage and wonder, "what am I doing wrong?" If you relate, it's highly likely that your soil just needs a little help! Vermicomposting is a great and easy option to give your garden soil the boost of nutrients that it needs with an all natural fertilizer produced by worms that you can farm at home.

Using compost from worms in your garden not only helps your plants grow healthier, it also lets you put your everyday food scraps to work. We found the most efficient way to boost your garden's health and increase its chance of success is to start your own worm farm which is incredibly easy to do at home.

What Is Vermicomposting And How Does It Work?

Vermicompost is the product of earthworm digestion and aerobic decomposition which is also known as “worm castings" or "worm poop”. When the worm castings are added to your soil it quickly becomes rich in nutrients to enhance your garden's health and provide other plenty of other benefits you'd probably didn't think was possible from worms!

What Are The Benefits of Vermicomposting?

Vermicomposting not only sustainably provides benefits to your garden but also to your life at home. Here are some of the top benefits that come from vermicomposting:

• Produces an organic biofertilizer with enzymes through the worm castings which enriches the soil with nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and manganese
• Increases the soil's water capacity. A 5% increase in organic material quadruples your soils water retention
• Strengthens the soil's structure. Improves soil texture which helps microbial organisms thrive which have beneficial fungi and bacteria that are beneficial to your plants 
• Contributes to gardens yielding healthier crops which in turn may reduce the chances of pests and insects attacking the plants
• Reduces release of green house gases as your composted organic waste helps reduce your garbage fees and carbon footprint as you avoid using dump trucks and land fills which produce methane

What Do I Need To Start My Worm Farm?

While you can just go out and buy worm castings at your local garden center, in the long run, having your own worm farm that can constantly produce castings for you is more cost effective! Worm farming is a low maintenance activity and does not require much time or space. Some things you need to get started are: 

A Small Bin

Worm bins usually range from $18 - $300 depending on the size and the complexity of the bin. Although these are great investments, they are not necessary if you are just starting to venture into the vermicomposting world. We recommend a worm bin as you can raise and multiply the worms in a controlled environment to start. You can collect the worm castings from the bin and add it to your garden.

However, it is perfectly fine to add your worms directly to your garden to start off and have the castings be produced right in the soil. There are also plenty of do-it-yourself worm bin videos on platforms on YouTube that will show you how you can prepare your own bin at a fraction of the price. The most important thing to remember when picking out or making your worm bin is that the bin needs to have a lid and holes for ventilation as your worms do need air to breathe.

Bedding

Another really important aspect of the compost bin is the worm bedding. The worm bedding sits at the bottom of the bin and is supposed to mimic the worm’s natural habitat. Adding the correct type of bedding is crucial to a healthy and happy worm farm. If the bedding is not up to par, the worms will either die or try to escape.

• Shredded brown cardboard
• Shredded paper (not bleached white paper or paper with any black ink)
• Shredded newspaper (not colored)
• Coconut coir
• Peat moss
• Straw and hay
• Aged compost
• Aged horse manure or cow manure

Worm Food

Worm castings is produced when a worm has digested its food, and later secretes the organic matter. It is important to feed your worms nutrients rich foods so that they can produce the nutrients rich compost to mix into your soil. The ideal worm food will be any fruit or vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, shredded newspaper, crushed egg shells, and egg cartons. Do not feed your worms any type of dairy, "spicy" foods such as peppers or onions, foods cooked with oils, or citrus fruits as these can quickly kill your worms!

Worms

Lastly, the most important thing that you will need in order to boost your garden's health are worms! The best composting worms are Red Wiggler Worms. These species of worms are very easy to maintain and feed on organic compost to produce worm castings rapidly.

It is important that you buy your worms from a trustworthy and sustainable worm farm to ensure that you get high quality and live worms upon delivery. Nature's Dream Ranch sells red wiggler worms which are sustainably bred in California, USA. These worms are an crowd favorite in the compost and gardening community because they are known to be the quickest species of worms that produce worm castings to allow you to enjoy all of the vermicomposting benefits immediately.