worm buckets went this season...
in total i put about 280lbs of worms/ worm pee/worm poo out into the gardens when i was planting (and another 40lbs went to the friend's garden).
then i had to restart all those empty buckets from the remaining four. because i had very little veggie scraps to put in all those buckets i used up a lot of the old soybeans i had on hand which i grew back when i was making soy milk.
to restart a bucket the basic formula went like this:
a layer of partially decomposed wood chips (PDWC) mixed with soybeans went in the bottom. the soybeans absorb moisture and then since the conditions are not good for them to sprout they eventually ferment and then the worms will chomp them up. on top of that bottom layer i add some garden soil, more PDWC, worms, repeat until the bucket is 2/3-3/4 full, top with shredded paper scraps. usually soak it with some water when i'm half way and then again before i put the top layer of shredded paper on top.
everyone looked happy and healthy the other day when i had to put some strawberry trimmings in a few of the buckets.
note that this is not normal worm composting like many others use because i use a mixture of worm species (some earthworms and some composting worms) and have garden soil in there. most normal worm composting uses only composting worms and organic materials and no garden soil.
i use my method because i want to refurbish the garden soil that i have which is very poor with a lot of clay. by using the worms to process veggie scraps and by keeping their pee/poo in the bucket (instead of draining off so called "worm tea") it seems to be working well (after five seasons).
that's about 1000lbs of free gentle fertilizer (i plant right into it or bury it around the level of the root zone). because of the live worms i make sure it is covered by at least a few inches of plain garden soil. as of yet the raccoons/etc. have not determined how much of a feast i'm putting out there in the gardens when i plant (100,000 - 150,000 worms). shhh! don't tell them... :)
songbird