If you have the space, I would suggest windrow vermicomposting.

Well, some people simply spread some of those leaves on the ground next to the compost bins to create a worm playground. Keep it moist and after a while scoop up some of the worm casting rich soil/mulch.

What do you hope to accomplish?
1-reduce the leaves?
2-produce worm castings?
3-produce worms?
4-just see what vermicomposting is like?

You can make big 4' by 8' worm beds (probably the size people choose because it matches a sheet of plywood.) A large bed/windrow is probably what you want in your climate.

You could get as simple as putting some worms in your leaf pile and keeping it moist and perhaps adding some other feed for your worms like kitchen scraps.

You could make a bed using something like concrete block or wood and fill it with leaves and add worms.

What about the worms themselves, do you have a source or are you going to be buying them? The larger scale the more worms you need. If you want to start with a smaller number of worms, you might want to start off using a container until the population grows.

Good luck

Hello vermiman/tclynx, What I want to do is produce high quality compost for the garden. My current compost is fine but vermicomposting got my interest. I have a large population of night crawlers and what we call red worms in the garden and yard. My current compost bins set on a brick driveway and only a few worms get through the cracks. It sounds like windrow composting is the ticket. I am down sizing the garden and have an ideal place to do it I don't think I will need to buy worms. Thanks for the reply.

John

What I would try before you do anything else would be to add worms to your already hot-composted pile. What will happen is they will go through it and turn your already good compost into great vermicompost. If you don't want to buy worms, save a bucket of left over food scraps ( no meat or fat) and dump it where you think you have worms in your garden. Cover this with six inches of your compost and wait a few days. when you lift up the pile you will find it has attracted lots of worms. Put as many of these worms as you can catch into your compost pile on the concrete pad. Leave your "bait-pile" there as long as there seems to be food to attract the worms. Repeat this process once a week until you are sick of it. The worms you put into the compost pile will multiply and you don't have to do a darned thing. You don't have to turn it. The worms will aerate it themselves. Keep collecting your kitchen scraps and bury them in the compost pile if you aen't using them in your "worm attracting " pile. If you bury the scraps, you won't have a problem with fruit-flies or racoons or such. When you've had enough of the "bait-pile" just scoop it up and throw it onto your big compost heap.