Hi I compost with worms (and also teach how) I have the fancy three story worm condo and two rubbermaid bins for teaching purposes. For those of you who haven't started yet it is a much quicker way to turn kitchen scraps into castings. I still use piles to compost yard waste but I have the room to do so. My bins are in my attached garage and is very easy to keep them neat.If you like, an inexpensive plastic coated tablecloth from Kmart can protect your floor but that is only messy because I let the grandkids get their own worms to fish with.
Red wigglers really do better IN A BIN and fed kitchen scraps(vegetarian only)so you will not be doing any one a favor by putting them in your garden.I believe they are not native.
By piling the castings on a table in the light you can easily sort them as they hate light and will travel to the bottom of the pile.Then you can harvest the castings (on top)and put the worms(from the bottom) back into the bin to eat more garbage.
There is a great book out called worms eat my garbage(revised addition) and even a vermiculture forum in the Garden web.So go get your worms!!!!
Try it you'll like it!

Actually, I've been vermicomposting since 1989. I enjoy the process and what it does for my gardens.

However, in retirement, we navigate to cooler climes in the summer, and I've been renovating, and lugging bins from state to state.

Can't keep this up.

Need to simplify without giving up all together.

DARLING worms for adoption. Would you like baby pix?

Dot, you have mail:)

Love this topic... I just started a small worm farm using, I believe, ten gallon plastic cans. I have three. I ordered two pounds of red worms from a comercial seller about three weeks to a month ago and I'm now feeding them scraps.

I certainly need all the help I can get. They eat leaves too, no? Do the leaves need to decompose before they eat them? How do you deal with ants? They seem to like the scraps also.

I got red worms because the bait shops around here (Clermont) don't carry them and they are the best for big bluegills and shellcrackers. The wigglers work, but they are skinny and hard to put on a hook.

Should I invest in more elaborate worm farm stuff?

We don't really need too many worms in Florida, do we? We have mostly sand, which certainly doesn't need airation.

We always need worms. Worms are our friends.

No need for the elaborate stuff! I can vouch for that I find my rubbermaid bins to be quite successful.IEasier than th e worm condo in my opinion.There is a site to go to that shows how you can stack them to achieve the same condo style if that is what you are after.

Dot--Would love to take you and anyone else up on the offer. I work in Leesburg and will travel to you to pick up. Let me know when, where, and how. Thanks

tomatonut, you received email.

The vermi-forum gives lots of info about composting worms.

There are other web-sites also, notably The Worm Woman, Mary Appelhof, who wrote the book, "Worms Eat My Garbage", and began the worm bin rage.

The other site I enjoy is about HERMAN, the composting worm. It is aimed at children and is entertaining as well as informative.