ACHIEVE THE ULTIMATE COMPOSTING LEVEL: VERMICOMPOSTING
If you want to move beyond hot composting or constrain your compost pile to a smaller space, you can get a little bit of help from a surprising source: worms. A relatively small container filled with hungry red wiggler worms can make short work of composting materials—chomping through paper and cardboard recycling materials and organic kitchen waste at a rapid rate. And they don’t need a lot of space to do their work! Done correctly, worm composting does not smell and does not attract fruit flies. (Throwing fruit and vegetable waste into the freezer for 24 hours before composting will keep fruit flies away.) And a healthy vermicomposting worm colony needs less tending than a sourdough starter! Kept at the proper temperature, worms can go up to four weeks without being fed, so you won’t have to find a worm sitter if you go away on a vacation.

Pinetree Garden Seeds sells some composting supplies and this year, we are adding vermicomposting worms to our product line. We have seen successful worm composters made from plastic storage bins and we have seen vermicomposting setups that look like artisanal fine furniture. It is an incredible way to renew and recycle household waste that we hope more people will be inspired to try.
So, what kind of composter are you? Tell us what you’ve tried and what you hope to attempt in the future in the comments.