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Vermicomposting in the cold-climate apartment - Balcony Vermicomposter

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

I found some closet doors in the dumpster area. Painted gloss cream white on one side, untreated on the inside.

I bought two packets of hinges for $4.00 at the corner store.

Vermicomposter - two closet door pairs salvaged from the dumpster area. This view is the unpainted side - that would have been inside the coat closet. Two of the three original hinges are in view, with a fourth, steel hinge placed by me. I will saw the doors in half between the steel and brass hinge to make shorter sections, each section with two hinges.

Vermicomposter - close up view of the fourth, steel hinge placed by me. I will saw the doors in half between the steel and brass hinge to make shorter sections, each section with two hinges. I used only two screws each side, the third screw would have poked into the cavity, and it's not a load-bearing task anyway.

Vermicomposter - sawing through the thin plywood "skin"

Vermicomposter - showing one configuration of two panel-pairs positioned to make half of a two-foot by two-foot vermicomposter. We are looking at the sawn surface; the honeycomb interior can be seen.

Vermicomposter - I am laying out three strips of wood on a panel base. The three strips will border or bound the panel pairs so that the base is held intact.

Vermicomposter - a different configuration for a two-foot square vermicomposter, here each panel pair forms a side, rather than a corner. Flat trunions have been screwed in place to bound the upper edges. The lower edges are bound by strips of wood screwed on to the base.

Vermicomposter - here it is assembled on the balcony. My balcony faces east, and gets a good deal of direct sunlight until noon. I hope that the hollow walls will provide a degree of insulation.

Vermicomposter - here it is assembled on the balcony. This is the lower portion of a four-foot high column. I did not cut a gate or soil-escape hole in this model. It was designed as a temporary means of tidying my balcony.

Vermicomposter - here is a view of the four panel-pairs. Each panel is twelve inches wide, two hinged together make a 24" section. These four sections will make a tower two feet on each side. Of course, one could fill any irregular space in increments of twelve inches, because all units are flexible and hinged.

Vermicomposter - I have removed the pins that held the doors in their tracks. The pin holes (about one centimeter diameter) are now used to hold sections together. I drill two holes in a piece of wood and drop old bolts or (long!) wood screws through those holes into the pin holes below. Neat! My Second Use For Everything (SUFE) philosophy has found a second use for empty space!

Vermicomposter - Four sections are held together using the two pin holes at each corner. Dis-assembly will be as easy as lifting (not un-bolting, not un-screwing, just lifting) the four strips of wood with their pendant bolts.

Vermicomposter - here is a mess. A large banana carton, lined with a garbage bag, holds kitchen scraps, paper scraps and worms. I arrange house plants (mint, chives, philodendron) on top, and water them to keep the vermicomposter moist.

Vermicomposter - here is another mess. A large carton, lined with a garbage bag, holds kitchen scraps, paper scraps and worms, and the base is soaked through and will collapse in a day or two. Sigh! The new, temporary tower is waiting ....

Vermicomposter - here is another mess. A laundry tub is full of worms and matter, and on top of it is Yet Another Carton(TM) with a bowl of water. It's obvious, too, that I spend a lot of time sweeping up debris before it falls on my neighbor below.

Vermicomposter - here the tower has been charged with every messy container from my balcony. Five colonies of worms at a convention! The painted side (cream gloss) is on the inside. It doesn't seem to affect the worms, but on re-assembly I'll place the gloss on the OUTside better to reflect the bright, hot sunlight in the morning.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Last year I started rhubarb in a large plastic pot, managed to harvest a few thin stalks off the first year.

I decided to winter it in the balcony closet Vermicomposter, reasoning that there would be some residual heat from composting to offset our cold winters, and the rhubarb might just survive.

I placed the pot on the compost material and threw a large garbage bag of shredded paper over the lot.

We have had a very mild winter; no extended periods of –20C weather.

This morning I inspected the pot. Behold! Tender pale pink stalks and pale green leaves are announcing themselves.

I have placed the pot back in the vermicomposter for a few weeks until I see it looking strong enough to sit on the balcony floor.

Monday, April 17, 2006

I plan to open up the balcony vermicomposter in about a month's time. By then any surviving worms (unlikely) or any hatched eggs should be evident and visible. We have had a mild winter here, so the presence of worms indicates that it is possible for a balcony vermicomposter to survive winter in Toronto.

The absence of worms will indicate that even a mild winter is enough to reduce a balcony vermicomposter to mere rubbish.

The balcony vermicomposter will house this year’s experiment – foodless vermicomposting!

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