Hi,
everything I've read says to use "red wigglers" for a worm bin,as most garden worms cannot survive the temperature extremes. I set up a worm composter a few months ago & just bought the worms from a bait shop.I keep my bin in the garage,there is no smell & the worms are multiplying.I take the extras(along with the castings)& place them in the veggie raised beds.Hope this helps

Ecopal, take the three worms and go catch three bluegills, dig a hole along three plants in your yard that you want to do well and place said bluegills in hole. The worms wont mind, there used to it as the blue gills are also.
Plant em if you got em.
Sam

When I started my front garden I had hardly any worms but once I removed the grass, started planting, and put down a thick layer of mulch the worms quickly multiplied on their own. Now everytime I disturb the mulch or try to dig a hole both large and small worms come crawling out of the dirt to get away from me!

Ecopal, that long black worm probably was a snake, most likely a ring neck snake. They are completly harmless and like to live under rocks, leaves, mulch and things like that. I get excited whenever I find them in my garden and like to pick them up to look at them before moving them out of the area I'm working in. Ringneck snakes are small black snakes with orange bellies with a ring around their neck.

OMG. That snake would scare the beejesus out of me! I just started a worm bin. Actually I made a worm "bag" out of felt and made a wooden stand. I'll try to take a pic this weekend. I bought red wigglers from the bait store. I read a lot on this before I started this process. I can't wait to get some of their good poop!

Our worms are very spoilt, they have a ranch. We and our neighbors on both sides feed them. Even our dogs feed them. They reward us with piles of worm doo-doo along the edge of the driveway.

This is my 'compost' zone, in the middle is a small open bottom box that is our kitchen scraps bin. All around in this shady area is where I dump leaves, twigs, grass clippings. Pine needles and podocarpus leaves drop a lot.

Periodically I'll lay down some cardboard, an old cotton rug or heavy towel - then cover with leaves. The worms love it.

We also bury our dogs land mines. We dig a hole, but you could also do some sort of wire mesh thingie I suppose. At any rate, add a doggie doo pile and a scoop of pine flakes bedding. When the hole gets near full, fill in the top with soil/sand. Your worms will love you more.

Our one neighbor came over one afternoon during one of our consecutive freezing nights and asked me what the smoke/steam was she saw when she left for work in the morning. I laughed and pointed out our kitchen compost 'bin' with various plants sitting on top to keep them warm. It gets very hot inside there but the worms don't seem to mind.

~dianne

I have vermicompost bins built right underneath my rabbit hutches. I use the redworms. There are 2 compost bins each one 6ft long x 2 ft wide. It is working out really well. I can either put straight rabbit manure into my garden or let the worms eat it and compost it.

If you get the right native Florida worms, they compost kitchen waste so fast you will not believe it!! You can't buy a better organic fertilizer, and it takes very little effort.

I, too, got my worms at the bait shop. Make sure they give you the Florida red wigglers.

I agree.I have compost piles that take forever but then I have my worm bins for kitchen scraps and WOW!.
Put 100% cotton sox or t-shirts in and they even eat them!
The grandkids think I am the coolest Grandma. Imagine the little darlings telling everyone
"My grandma has WORMS!"
The castings are great. Read everything you can,there is a great vermiculture forum on Garden Web.
tanya

They escaped! Those wiggly jerks are trickyer than I thought. I should have gotton a bucket instead of a cup. I still have the little one though. P.S. That long black thing was not a snake or a least not one that looks anything like that picture. It was black on the bottom and top. It was also way more shinny. And it did not have a face. It was well..... (wormish).

Likely that was a Brahminy blind snake - they are completely harmless & even eat termites:

& FYI, there is a vermicomposting forum here @ G'web....

THATS IT! Thanks for clearing that up. Its strange though I have lived here my entire life and have never seen that before. It was under my dog house. P.S. I found some more worms.

I've never seen that type of blind snake before although I've found several of the pinkish blind snakes before. I think I read someplace that the pinkish ones weren't really snakes at all but more in a class of their own but I'm not sure about that. Very neat picture!

Quit posting snake pictures!!!!!!!!!!!! :) It's freaking me out!