Worms & Composting: Turn Waste Into Free Soil
Two ways to close the loop on kitchen and garden waste, and why most backyards use both.
The fastest way to grow better vegetables for nothing is to stop throwing organic waste in the bin and start turning it into soil. There are two home methods: a worm farm for daily kitchen scraps, and a compost heap or bin for the bigger garden waste. They are not rivals; they handle different things and feed the same garden.
Worm farm or compost? (Most people do both)
| Worm farm | Compost | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Daily kitchen scraps | Garden waste, big volumes |
| Space | A milk crate, a balcony | A corner of the yard |
| Speed | Steady, year-round | Weeks (hot) to months (cold) |
| Output | Rich castings + worm tea | Bulk humus for whole beds |
| Takes prunings/weeds? | No | Yes |
Start here
Setup, what to feed worms (with a searchable checker), and fixing smells and pests. The richest free fertiliser, in a box the size of a milk crate.
Cold heap, hot heap, tumbler or Bokashi; what you can and cannot compost (searchable); and fixing a smelly or stalled heap.
Both, ideally. A worm farm is best for daily kitchen scraps in a small space and makes the richest fertiliser; a compost heap handles bigger volumes and garden waste a worm farm cannot, like prunings and lawn clippings. Many backyards run a worm farm for the kitchen and a compost bin for the garden.
Composting uses heat and microbes to break down a mix of greens and browns into humus. Worm farming (vermicomposting) uses compost worms to eat scraps and produce castings. Worm castings are more concentrated; compost makes more volume. They are complementary, not competing.
Worm castings are the more concentrated and biologically active, prized as a top fertiliser and for making worm tea. Compost is gentler and better for improving soil structure and water-holding across whole beds. Use castings as a booster and compost as a bulk soil improver.
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