FIMBY: Put worms to work for you

This is another installment in our Food in My Back Yard series, focused on edible gardening.

Want some untiring help in the garden? Get some worms -- red wigglers, to be specific.

Without training and with just a little bit of assistance, they create the richest soil amendment a gardener could hope for. And it's all made from kitchen scraps, fallen fruit, veggies too far gone to eat. It's upcycling at its finest -- and cheapest.

My worm bin just passed its fifth anniversary. That means many generations of worms have contributed to my garden. I wouldn't garden without them now, in fact. But if you need convincing, here are some reasons to tend your own working worms.

1. Great pets. No worm sitter needed. Be sure to feed them before you leave town, and they'll be fine for a few weeks.

2. Don’t have to think of names for them all. “Slimy” works for everyone.

3. They're not that slimy, really, and easy to retrieve if dropped. This sometimes happens during food delivery or the harvest of castings.

4. No-guilt disposal of fallen fruit (though worms won't eat peach pits) and soggy lettuce. Watermelon rind is a huge favorite. (They don't like citrus, onions or cranberries, however.)

5. Cheap compost creation, once you have the bin and the bedding. The latter can be pine shavings from the feed store, dried leaves, or shredded newspaper. (Enough of the last one might be hard to find these days.)

6. Harvesting the castings can be done without dumping out the whole bin. I don't have the room to do that. Instead I don a pair of latex gloves, and feel around in the worm bin for the smoothest contents. I harvest several handfuls of that, then deposit the next collection of food in that area. Add some fresh bedding, some water if needed, and the worms are good to go for another week.

7. As I said, the best soil amendment ever! This time of year I give those handfuls of castings to plants that may be looking wan after a stressful bout of weather. Just spread them on the soil surface and water them in -- magical.

Below is a link to the Sacramento County master gardeners' guide to worm composting. Start a bin now and you'll have plenty of castings for next spring.