Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Vermicompost: Storing & Using on the Balcony Garden


We used our worm compost on all of the plants on our balcony garden by spreading it around the topsoil. We are making a vermicompost tea solution to water our indoor plants with.
Once I had obtained my vermicompost I had to deal with the issue of how to store it. I did a bit of online research and what I read in this helpful blog post is that if you have vermicompost (a mix of worm castings, partially decomposed bedding material and other stuff from your bin) then it should be stored in a container that is not air tight. The reason is that all of that extra material will continue breaking down and if there's no ventilation it could be really smelly and foul. This article also suggests that you first dry out your vermicompost so it's not too wet before putting it in a container. If you have vermicastings (only worm castings, ie you've taken/sifted out all of the other matter) then it is best to store this in an air tight container.
I know from looking at what I harvested from my bin that I do not have pure castings, although they compose the majority of my harvest's contents. There are still remnants of hay and newspaper that were on their way to being broken down completely. It is not wet, but just damp. I figure I will just use a plastic tupper ware container and punch some holes in the lid to store my vermicompost in.
I think the addition of the worm castings to our potted plants is already helping them and am noticing that they are retaining moisture better, requiring less frequent watering (although it could just be the humid weather we're having).
We tightened in our plants, bringing the marigolds off the rails closer to our tomato and other plants in the hopes that their pest repelling properties will help. There are no longer aphids on anything on the table (below), plus the ladybugs are kicking ass on the morning glory vine on the wall. What remains in terms of edible crops are 5 tomato plants (3 cherry, 2 pomodoro), spinach I planted a few weeks ago (enjoys cooler weather than this), garlic chives, mixed herbs, and the pole beans (haven't produced any beans yet - have been spritzing with water). Here's a few pictures of our garden these days:


The blue variety of Morning Glory I planted this year (above) and an awesome show of flowers this morning (below)

The first flowers on the tomatoes we started from seed! (above)
A wasp (?) on the bean plant (below)

2 comments:

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