the architecture of tomorrow

Harvesting the Vermicomposting Bin

Yesterday we harvested our vermicomposting bin in order to obtain the useful worm castings they have been producing. As you can see (below) the level of material in the bin decreased dramatically over the 3 months as the worms broke down their bedding and the food scraps I gave them. The original level was near the top piece of duct tape.

There were several steps involved in the harvesting:

1) Preparing new bedding for the worms. - We did this in a large recyclables bag, in which we shredded newspaper just like the first time we made bedding for our worms. It was easy to moisten the newspaper with water and estimate the amount of bedding we needed in the bag.

2) Piling and Sorting the bin's material into 3 basic containers: worms & reusable bedding material, worm eggs (to avoid overpopulation and eggs hatching in plant pots), and the worm castings (what we're doing all of this work for!). We taped two cut open recycling bags together to create a large plastic sheet to line the balcony to do our sorting work on.

We used the pile & sort method where we emptied the bin's contents into several small cone shaped piles. The worms buried down to the bottom of the piles to avoid the light and we, pile by pile, scraped off the tops of the piles to get the vermicompost, working our way to the bottom. This was a very long and tedious process as we did a very thorough job. There were so many baby worms which were at times difficult to pick out and did not move down away from the light as well as the adult worms did.

This is what the bottom of the bin looked like after taking much of the vermicompost out. It's amazing to see what a job the worms did on that newspaper!

Piles for sorting

Pie plates helped with sorting
The Results

Two containers full of worms (below)

Collected worm eggs. Not sure what I'll do with these yet. I've read they can last many years. I am kind of playing god when it comes to the population of my worm bin (removed a little less than half of the population, and most of the eggs - they'll just produce more anyway), but I kind of have to because overpopulation would be a bad thing.
Total amount of Vermicompost collected! Several pounds (about 3/4 of that ikea garbage can is full)

Poo poo la poo poo la poo poo la pooGardener's Gold!! Harvesting all of this natural fertilizer I helped produce with my own food waste was really satisfying! Harvesting was hard work, and since the next harvest will be in late summer/early fall, I'm going to try a different method whereby I just push all of the bin's contents over to one side, fill the empty side with new bedding and food to draw the worms over, then harvest the empty side. The way we did it produces a much purer end product which I was only really concerned for when used on my indoor plants (i.e. I don't want any missed worms trying to live in my indoor plants). I have decided I will make some vermicompost tea for use on my indoor plants, thus alleviating any of these concerns.

3) Returning the worms to their new bed, while removing some of the worm population to avoid overpopulating the bin.

We added the larger container's worth of worms back into our worm bin, with freshly prepared bedding material (moistened shredded newspaper, hay, soil, some egg shells, undecomposed bedding from before). We contributed the remaining worms to the community composter in the park by our apartment building, which from what I have heard, has run out of red worms.

To come: Using the vermicompost in my balcony garden & making vermicompost tea!

Balcony Garden: June's Growth

Taken June 28th:
Balcony garden blossoming

Scarlet Runner Pole Beans - flowering and climbing

Marigolds are making heads and bushing up

Tomatoes are growing strong, becoming more hardy. We bought a Tiny Tim cherry tomato plant from a Farmer's Market in the town near my cottage. It already has many green tomatoes on it.

Romaine and Buttercrunch Lettuces are florishing. They've been great to eat fresh from the garden. I no longer buy lettuce when I do groceries because I'm growing enough to supply us, plus there's no waste from any going bad - I cut only what I need.

The first pea is fattening up!

I love being able to see the vines of the Morning Glory growing across the window from inside the apartment.

Balcony Garden: Spring's Growth

I haven't updated in a while. Here are some shots of my balcony garden plants, showing their difference in growth from photos taken on June 6th and on June 19th.

Marigolds June 6th (above), June 19th (below)

Morning Glories

Garlic Chives

Mixed Herbs

Tomato

Peas (First flower is becoming a pod below)

Pole Beans: they're growing quickly!

I put up some strings for the beans to grow across. This will hopefully turn into a green wall.

Lettuce: lush and ready for picking!

Apartment Recycling: Action Update

It's been about 2 weeks now since I posted the sign addressing tenants on my floor about dealing with their recyclables properly. Amazingly, the sign is still up and intact. A few days after I initially posted it in the disposal chute room, I saw the maintenance worker on our floor while I was waiting for an elevator. He is the one who takes away any recyclables tenants leave in the garbage chute rooms, so he must've seen the sign and left it up (and why wouldn't he since it does benefit him). I have also noticed less recyclables being left in the garbage chute room as well. These are all good signs!

Balcony Garden: Growth While I'm Gone

This bean hadn't even sprouted before we left to go to the cottage! It and 5 others came up.

The Romaine and Buttercrunch lettuces are coming up great, especially that second sewing.

We're having some of the Mesclun mix (above) in a salad for dinner tonight.

The Spinach is fattening up.

I was worried that the plants wouldn't get enough water over the 4 days we were gone and watered them well before we left. They looked great, however, when we returned. What a relief!

Apartment Recycling: Taking Action

I'm tired of tenants (at least on my floor of the building) leaving their recyclables in the disposal chute room for building management to take care of. Earlier in the week the room was absolutely filled with recyclables to the point where I could not even enter the room (granted, it is a small room). My sister and I were talking about it and she gave me the idea to create a sign to post in the disposal chute room to see what, if any, effect it has on tenant's recycling habits. I may, if successful, post it on all floors of the building, but will start with my own for now. It reads as follows:

To: All Tenants

Re: Recyclables in Disposal Chute Rooms


Please refrain from leaving your recyclables in the disposable chute room. All recyclables must be taken down and disposed of in the Recycling Bins available at the rear of the building. If more bins are needed, please inform building management. Thank you for your recycling efforts.

I will be checking to see if the sign is taken down, if recyclables are still being left, or if they're not being left. One concern is that if it's laziness that prevents them from recycling properly, they might just put everything down the garbage chute. I guess that's the risk I take. They're half way there, so they may as well go the full mile.

Balcony Garden Growth Above City Below

Peas are growing strong and will need to be re-potted soon.
I love those curly shoots they send off.

Mesclun mix is starting to look really delicious!

The true spinach leaves are really starting to come up now.

The tomatoes are hardening up, especially now that I have everything out on the balcony.

Garlic chives are funny little growths.

Here's a shot of a city square block taken from my balcony. It's nice to see all of the trees in bloom as it takes the edge off of the city's rigid appearance.

Click to enlarge