Harvesting a Worm Box

I set up my worm box last April and harvested a hearty amount of worm compost at the end of June. Here's how to do it:

1. Tear up strips of old newspaper and cardboard. You'll need a lot. Enough to fill your worm box 2/3 full.
2. Soak the torn paper in a tub of water. Wring out very, very well. Can't be soggy.
3. Add dry leaves, clippings (I used pampas grass leaves and the sawdusty stuff from an old, dead plant). This will pick up much of the moisture in the soggy paper.
4. Move worm compost to one side of the worm box.
5. Bury new food scraps in the new bedding. Worms will crawl over to the new bedding side. Give them a couple weeks.
6. Remove compost. Put any residual worms back in the box to gnash on new food. Spread around your needy plants.
7. Fill empty half of box with new bedding.
8. Keep your girls' tummies full. They work hard for you and your plants.

Ready for worms

Ordered 1,000 worms from earlybirdworms.com. My 2x4-foot worm box has been readied--marine varnish on the inside; primer and dark green exterior paint on the outside.

When the South Carolina red worms arrive I'll soak newspaper strips in water, squeeze out the excess, place them in the box and be ready to go.

We eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables in our house, so the worms will not go hungry. Soon I'll have rich, homemade compost for the garden plants.