The Best Way to Compost If You Don’t Want to Compost

Composting has a negative factor. Between gardening and cooking, I generate a lot of waste that goes straight to the green bin for urban composting, and I’m always very happy to shuffle it to the curb and out of my house. I’ve always wanted to compost more seriously, but there wasn’t enough space, I was afraid of pests, and basically I just didn’t have much faith in how long it would take to get as small a result as I did. I have absolutely no interest in desktop “composters” that just burn your waste and don’t make real compost .

I used to hesitantly fill the composter in a glass and then forget about it in the corner of the yard. He stood next to the worm tower given to me, which was empty. It got too hot for the worms in the summer and too cold in the winter, and I wasn’t ready to bring the worms indoors due to the extreme weather. I felt strongly that the worms had their own territory, and I had mine, and it was best to keep them separate.

Adding worms to your compost makes it 100 times faster

However, I liked the idea of ​​vermicomposting (worm-assisted composting), mainly because of the speed at which they recycled the compost. It didn’t require high temperatures or constant turning and balancing with browns.

I kept seeing SubPod ads. Since I can’t help but be myself, I didn’t want to spend money, so instead I built a similar structure out of a few wooden boxes that I dug into a grave-sized hole in the ground, and I bought some red purrs. And for a whole season, I put my food waste and garden clippings into a composter, and let the worms in there. I couldn’t figure out how effective the worms were, just tearing through the food. I was constantly pulling out incredibly beautiful, rich, dark compost to put in my boxes.

The trouble was the wood, which, after a season underground, became part of the compost as a result of decomposition. But at that moment, I realized that the process was working, so it was time to bite the bullet and get a SubPod.

Plastic compost bins do not biodegrade

The SubPod works just like a storage bench with a jump seat, but instead of storing barbecue tools, you store compost and worms. There are two storage rooms inside. You add your waste to one side and when it fills up you use the other. When you are not filling the capsule, you lower the lid. The box part has holes all over the place through which worms can enter and exit. You should bury the bulk of the box in the soil, leaving the top two inches above soil level for airflow.

In many promotional materials for the SubPod, you see it hidden in a raised bed so it acts like a bench. You just don’t realize that thousands of worms are sitting under you. I went ahead and buried it in the ground so that it would be an excellent thermal insulation for summer and winter.

Even if worms tire you, you will appreciate them.

Because the SubPod was buried in the ground and my soil is very healthy and full of worms, I didn’t buy worms; I knew they would find the composter themselves. But you can get them at places like Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm if you lack that confidence. They come in a package, and it’s worth noting that I’ve never, ever, had to touch a real worm. You flip the bag over and dump the worms inside. As for worms, red wigglers are pretty harmless.

The thing is, even though worms usually make me goofy, I have developed a huge attachment to my compost worms. The sheer amount of work they do is impressive. So much so that when people come for worms (like sourdough sourdough, you can share your little squirming friends to start with your friend’s compost), I insist on only opening the lid before 10am or after 6pm so I Don’t shock the worms with intense sunlight or heat. I feel really responsible for my worms. If I don’t give them compost to recycle, they’ll just leave the composter and go look elsewhere for food, but I’m always a little smug when I bring them my own food.

How to start your SubPod

Your capsule comes with a plastic box that is easy to install. It also comes with natural fiber mats that fit into each of the capsule’s compartments. You put food scraps under them and they insulate the food a bit. Over time, the worms also compost them. While you can buy new ones , I usually find them unnecessary. At worst, I put a few damp paper bags or newspapers on top, but mostly I just leave the box closed during the hottest part of the day.

As with any compost, you need to keep a balance of wet green and dry brown material, but it’s not as difficult as I expected. Worms balance a lot. Your brown materials like paper, dry leaves or twigs balance things out of your kitchen. With worms, you need to take an extra step – worms don’t like citrus, garlic, or onions. In fact, they don’t like spicy food either, so try to eat it in small amounts. This stuff can go into your city compost. Typically, I have my still lawn mowing neighbor drop a bin of grass clippings next to the composter and wait for it to dry, then use it as brown material as needed.

You can turn your compost and I find it useful, so I bought an aerator for this, which hangs nearby. The thing that makes this different from regular composting is that it takes a lot less time. My worms turn a week’s waste into compost in about ten days. In sixty days I will have a whole bucket of compost ready.

You can sift it using a compost sieve, but I don’t bother. Larger particles can continue to be composted on site wherever they go.

The SubPod has expanded to come in multiple sizes for smaller spaces like apartment balconies, which seems to be useful. The worms and I have been together for four years now and, frankly, we are very happy.