Worm Towers Revisted

I’ve been writing so much about WINTER worm composting lately that I figured it was high time I moved on to…uhhh…greener pastures (haha) – and what better place to start than with a post relating to one of my FAVORITE topics – vermi-gardening!
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Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post about a cool vermicomposting system called a “worm tower” that I came across on YouTube. As mentioned in that post, this is similar to an idea I’ve been meaning to test out myself for quite some time now (this year is definitely THE YEAR!!! haha) , involving the partial burial of a plastic garbage can composter in my garden.

Anyway, I learned recently that my good worm-friend Cassandra has been using worm towers quite successfully in her garden beds, and even made a video about it – so I thought it would be cool to post it here!

I’m certainly a diehard vermicomposting trench fanatic, but what’s great about these small towers is that you can basically place them wherever you want in the bed! I definitely want to set up a bunch of these this year.

One other thing that really caught my attention in Cassandra’s video was her use of a straw bale as a garden bed! I had hoped to do something similar with the straw bale walls of my former winter worm composting bed, and my dad even planted a bunch of seeds for me (again, this system sits in his backyard), but we didn’t end up having much luck with it. Whether it was poor germination or some rodent munching away on the seedlings that DID emerge, it was a pretty dismal show all around. I would like to try it again though!

Anyway, if you want to learn more about Cassandra and her raised bed gardens, be sure to check out her Organic Raised Bed Gardening website. She also blogs about her fun with vermicomposting at Go To Worms.

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Comments

    • Barry Chapman
    • February 1, 2010

    Awesome stuff! Planning on have some worm towers as well. What size are the tubes, how long are they, and how big are the holes at the bottom? Love this site!

    • brenda bowen
    • February 4, 2011

    What do you do with the tower in the winter? Do you have to screen the dirt to get the worms back? It gets to -45 here in the winter.
    Thanks
    Brenda B

  1. Barry – really sorry you didn’t get a reply!! The size of the tubes is totally up to you, but if I was going to do it I’d definitely want a good 2-3 feet underground – so total might be about 5 feet or so. Holes might be good at 1/2-1 inch I’d think – again, not likely any strict rules here.

    Brenda – great question. If it were me I would make sure it was deep in the ground, and would also heap LOTS of organic matter (leaves, straw etc) up around the exposed section and then cover with a tarp. The idea would be to keep the worms alive – not to actually keep it active.

    B

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