Worm composting, or vermicomposting, uses red wigglers to eat your food scraps to make compost. After the worms digest the food scraps, they produce worm castings, which is rich organic compost. Worm castings can be used on houseplants, vegetable and flower gardens and lawns.

Worms like temperatures between 40-80 degrees F

Worms are basically vegetarians.

Chopping the food scraps into small pieces makes it easier for the worms to eat them.

Redworms can eat half their body weight in food scraps a day.

Mix 4-6 inches of damp bedding in the bottom of the bin. Bedding should be as damp as a wrung-out sponge.

Worm bins need ventilation holes in the lid or sides to allow air circulation.

Bedding is a mixture of black and white newspaper, cardboard, soil and leaves.

When feeding worms in the bin, bury the food scraps several inches into the bedding to prevent fruit flies and odors.

Rotate the food scraps, burying them in a different place each time to give your worms exercise.

The compost can be harvested every few months, when you cannot identify the original bedding and everything looks brown and earthy.