JE>    backyard, though? My budget is extremely limited, so buying a
I have just joined this conference and saw your posting.
I've composted for many years in different countries. Here in
Toronto, Ontario, from scrap pallette timbers I built 4-foot
wooden composters in my garden, but when I moved to an apprtment
building, I obtained one of the bright red plastic vermicomposter
bins from the local council.
This bin was fine as it went, but I found it awkward to flush out
the soil.
Being cheap by nature, I hit on the idea of stealing the 16-
litre plastic tubs discarded by most restaurants. Right there on
the kerb, with the garbage, one can somewhat illegally collect
these sturdy white plastic tubs with handles  AND WITH THE LIDS.
Do it in the dead of night, when noone will see you.
Lids: Trim the beading from the lid. This gives you a sturdy
===== circular flange, about 3/4 inch wide and deep. Cut the
beading into three equal-length segments. In the flat platter
that's left, drill or cut or saw holes about one-inch diameter to
make a perforated drainage plate.
Tubs: Across the base, drill or cut or saw holes about one-inch
===== diameter to make a perforated base, just like the plate.
Place the three segments of beading in the tub, curved side
inwards, so that they make a triangular stand for the plate. If
you think I'm going to try doing THAT in ascii you are very much
mistaken. On the stand place the platter. On the platter place a
circular piece of scrap plastic fly-mesh (any building site!).
I collect all my cardboard and tear it into 2-inch chunks while
I'm watching sit-coms on TV. I HATE to waste anything, even brain
cells (grin!). I place a bed of about three inches of cardboard
chips in the tub, cover it with soil, then start adding layers of
vegetable waste and soil with the red worms.
When the first tub is full, I start on the second, then the
third. Ad, but not, nauseum.
By having four or five tubs going, I'm cascading soil+worms from
one to the other. The greedy monsters have plenty of time to work
over a tub before they get troweled into a fresh tub.
I can yank a tub of soil (for use as potting medium) out of the
cycle at any time.
I sit the tubs on any kind of impervious plastic sheet or tray to
collect surplus fluid. But see below.
Surplus fluid is held to be fatal to the vermicomposting
============= operation. In the kitchen sink I keep a 1-litre
plastic ice-cream tub with a few holes gouged in the base. In the
tub another cicular piece of fly-mesh. Into the tub go the daily
refuse pieces, including coffee-grounds and tea-leaves. The lid
stays on. Excess fluids drain from this tub overnight, and first
thing in the morning I put the drained matter in the composter.
Not so much excess fluid for me, ho ho!
Alternate source of tubs: I get my ice-cream in 15-litre piails
direct from the factory. These pails are slightly less robust,
but they'll do. You can use them, too, as hlders for larger pot-
plants.
I hope this helps.
christopher.greaves@pro-mail.com  christopher.greaves@ablelink.org
christopher.greaves@capcanada.com www.interlog.com/~cgreaves
 * 1st 2.00b #6263 * Don't Brake!
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