Joy Leftovers from guinea pigs and my garden

[Chayna Renee]

(Ignore the prefix. I couldn't find a good one.)
I wasn't really sure where to put this thread. I looked around and tried to find a place for about five minutes and eventually just chose this. As you saw from the title, I purchased some red worms and plan on putting them into my raised garden bed. We have been having pretty bad storms here so I haven't done it yet. I don't know if this has been talked about on here but if it has I'm sorry I've made another thread. I wanted to know if the poop and the used hay soaked with urine and the lettuce they do not eat is okay to feed my little worms with. My pigs don't eat pellets, only veggies and the occasional piggie fruit salad. It's basically like horse poo right?

In my raised garden bed, I only have topsoil because my dad came home with five bags with it and I don't think you can return dirt. So, from what I have heard, topsoil isn't really the best thing for a garden. I'm a member on a gardening forum and I asked what I should do. They told me at first to get seaweed but I'm not exactly sure how I could obtain seaweed in Indiana. So, they then suggested that worms would be my best bet. I've heard of the compost bins with the worms in it and they get really rich soil (or castings) but I haven't heard of worms in the garden. It's not much different I guess. Has anyone on here done this before? I just don't want to screw this up. I haven't had the best history with plants and I really don't want to murder a whole bunch again. I also don't want to kill the wormies.

It's cool that my guineas will be eating veggies (if they don't die) that their poop fertilized. Haha.

 

[Soecara]

I personally compost my guinea pig waste (poop and hay) as it is much easier for me to just chuck it all into my compost bin then to scatter it on my garden every week. My compost bin is full of worms, who seem just as content with the guinea pig waste as they do with any other organic matter I put in there. Of course when I fertilize my garden with the compost a bunch of worms come across with the compost, and I frequently stumble across them when digging around in the garden bed to plant so the guinea pig poop has not affected them negatively at all.

If you live in an agricultural area you might also be able to buy farm animal manure in bulk to help start off the bed, but you want to make sure you get it from a quality source otherwise you could be brining across nasties in the poop (chemicals, antibiotics etc.). When I first started my most recent raised garden bed I got in a truck full of dirt to fill it up from a landscaping supply store, a bunch of compost from my compost heap, then a trailer full of cow manure to mix in to help add in nutrients for the plants. You could also start a compost heap and put some worms in both the garden bed and som in the compost heap.

 

[Chayna Renee]

I was planning on taking most of the worms out of the garden bed when it starts to get colder and putting them into a bin and start a compost bin then put some of the worms back in the garden when it gets warmer. Have you ever tried to take the worms out of one of your compost bins? Do you know how I could make sure I get all of them or mostly all of them?

 

[librarychick]

I was planning on taking most of the worms out of the garden bed when it starts to get colder and putting them into a bin and start a compost bin then put some of the worms back in the garden when it gets warmer. Have you ever tried to take the worms out of one of your compost bins? Do you know how I could make sure I get all of them or mostly all of them?

Oh my...I'm picturing you searching for and counting worms...lollollol

Removing 'all the worms' you put in is a completely lost cause. That being said, they will breed over the summer, so you can use a scoop or two of compost to 'seed' your worm bins for the fall. The worms will overwinter in the garden bed and compost just fine.

If you do pick them out one at a time PLEASE take pics! lol

 

[librarychick]

*Adding* Sorry, I just realized I was no help at all about the rest of your questions.

I do a bit of both - I add the used bedding and poops to compost, but I also sprinkle some on top of my beds throughout the year. When I plant I often include a scoop of 'pig pellet' fertilizer in with the amendments to the soil. In the fall I rake back my layer of mulch, sprinkle on a generous amount of poops and some hay/bedding, and recover with the mulch - if I'm feeling lazy or the mulch is breaking down really well I just sprinkle it on top of the old mulch then add a fresh layer of mulch on top.

As for this year's garden - I'd get at least a bag or two of compost, well rotted manure, or sea soil (all of which you can buy at any garden or big box store with a garden center) and work that through the whole bed. If you're on a tight budget then save your coffee grounds, banana peels, and egg shells in a bucket outside. Those things will break down REALLY fast and can be planted directly with any bedding plants you buy to nourish them. You could also buy a single bag of compost/rotted manure and scoop some into every plant's hole when you plant them. I always suggest mulching, the mulch itself will break down and feed your soil and it'll help prevent evaporation and root disturbances. As an added bonus, if you choose the right mulch, it will help suppress weeds too!

I've used old leaves (and new leaves), grass clippings, hay or straw (NO seeds!), wood chips, and basically anything else I can find for free. I either use my own yard extras, 'borrow' leaf bags left out for collection by my neighbors, or use old hay bales I've bought from local organic farmers for the pigs. I buy a new bale every 6-8 months, but they only go through it so fast. The 'stale' hay is PERFECT mulch.

 

[Chayna Renee]

Well, wouldn't they die when it gets below the freezing point? That's why I was going to try and pick some of them out because I didn't want to start over next year. Or I won't I don't even know. Haha

 

[librarychick]

Nope. We get to -40C here and there's always lots of worms. When it gets cold they can either dig down deep where it stays warmer, or hibernate. Adding mulch to your garden will also help protect the worms, as well as feeding them and improving your soil.

 

[Chayna Renee]

Awesome. I didn't know that. Thank you.

 

[librarychick]

No problem Glad to help