Topic: Has anyone tried vermiculture in their cold-frame/greenhouse over winter?

[GrannieAnnie]

I've been wondering what the pros and cons would be of using some of my precious little bedding space in the walk in cold-frame for digging in our food scraps, bringing in some worms from the garden for the winter, rather than trying to add scraps to a frozen compost pile.

There is currently one bald spot without lettuce and probably the very healthy and still bearing green pepper will keel over as the temps drop but currently the temps are close to 77 F during a sunny day and in the 50s at night, bound to head lower soon. That would give me at least a 2 ft sq. area for the worms in ground, not in pots. 

One fear is attracting vermin.

Any thoughts from your vast experience?

[boldielocks]

If you going to keep worms in a cold frame, I would be concerned with over heating the worms when the temperature warms up. Like the worm bins you can buy, they tend to get to hot for the worms in the warmer months and the worms can die. I would try to keep them outside in a constructed bed or bin made from timber. Try to build up your food scraps in a pile during the cold months and this should provide a more natural heat source for the worm, and allowing the worms to settle were they are most comfortable. 

[Garden Manager]

If its any help I have a small wormery that i keep under cover in winter and outside in a shady spot in summer. It takes all our veg peelings and so on and the worms seem to thrive no matter what the weather outside.

I guess if you are going to do this kind of thing in a greenhouse you will have too make sure the bit where the worms are never freezes. in fact most 'compost' worms need at least +6c to remain alive and active through the winter. I could never keep my worms in the greenhouse over winter as i cant keep it warm enough to stay frost free.

Hope this helps.

[Digeroo]

bringing in some worms from the garden for the winter

The worms you need for a wormery will be reddish and in the compost bin or manure pile.  Worms from the garden are greyish and live in the soil.   

[GrannieAnnie]

Back in the Fall I dug up some red worms and put them in one area of the cold frame with garbage peelings and added to it a couple times. I haven't dug down into it since because I was afraid of cutting the worms. They probably did minimal work in this cold anyway. Next winter I'm thinking of putting in a bed of manure to keep the ground warmer.