bin seedlings

Not intentional, but it turns out my bin is growing plants.

Since I put used hamster bedding in there, and the box is full of rich half-processed compost, leftover seeds the hamster didn't eat sprout like crazy. Last month we were away on vacation and no-one was available to babysit our hamster so I put the hamster in a very large plastic tote (my kids pretend it's a boat sometimes- they both fit in there with room to spare). This tote used to be our toybox but has become the "hamster playground." My nine-year-old usually sets up a maze or obstacle course for the hamster to run around in when she cleans his cage. This time I moved all his belongings into there, filled it with a generous layer of fresh bedding, rigged up a support to hold his wheel and water bottle, gave extra food and water. Also to keep him entertained we buried a dozen cardboard tubes in the bedding for tunnels, gave him new chew sticks, a pile of fresh hay and made a puzzle ball by cramming a ball of bent twigs full of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. We were gone a week. He did fine. I thought the hamster might be unfriendly when we got home, having not been handled for a while, but he seemed to remember my daughter's scent and didn't nip or run away.

Anyway, long story is to note that I dumped half of that massive amount of used bedding into the worm bin. Forgot the reason I have switched from shredded paper to corrugated cardboard for worm bedding. The hamster bedding is basically shredded paper, and it got soggy and compacted in the bin. Started to smell a bit. So today I moved it out to the balcony and aerated by just turning the material over with my hands, pulling the moist stuff up from the bottom and spreading it around into the center. It wasn't that bad, the smell or the compaction. (I threw away the other half of the used bedding- it was just too much).

Found that loads of rice isn't that great for the bin, either. I had also dumped in the bag of rice that dried out my camera. Rice takes a long time to break down. Now it's solid clumps. Broke that up some too. The bin is pretty full again. I'm being more selective about what I put in the waste tin for the worms- fed them only once this week- to cut down on moisture and encourage processing of the bedding.

I left the lid off and let the bin sit outside for a few hours this morning- it was overcast today so not too hot- to let it air out more before putting back in its usual station in the kitchen corner.

Note: I've failed in trying to grow a houseplant from a mango seed before, but now have read that a good way to start a mango growing is to bury it in a worm bin! Might just try that someday.