How To Boost Your Health This Spring– From The Soil Up
With Spring, renewal, and good weather in the air, now is the perfect time to take the outdoors to rejuvenate both yourself and your garden. The answer? Building a worm hotel.
Despite the pervading sense that dirt is dirty and therefore bad, playing in the dirt (especially as a kid!) is good for you— so much so that even beauty companies are cashing in on the action. Dirt helps build your immunity, can help you feel more grounded and less stressed, and, if we get right down it, is pretty fun. (Admit it– you miss building mud pies sometimes.)
For your garden, worm hotels are a triple threat: they naturally encourage earthworms, they keep your food scraps out of landfills, and they amp up your soil’s health– think of it like Spring cleaning for your yard. Plus, they’re an easy implementation of vermicomposting that isn’t intimidating and doesn’t require any special equipment. Check out the directions below to get yourself and your space ready for Summer.
Materials
- spade
- food waste
- oats
- stepping stone or potted plant
Directions
- Dig a hole approximately a foot wide, and a foot and half deep.
- Fill with food scraps. (Items to avoid putting in your worm hotel: foods with preservatives, spicy foods, meat, dairy, processed foods like bread or pasta, fatty or oily food. Stick to leftover bits of fruits and vegetables, newspaper, eggshells, untreated paper or cardboard, lawn clippings, and yard refuse.)
- Add a layer of oats to the very top of the hole, then cover the hole with an inch or two dirt.
- Place a stepping stone, potted plant, or other solid cover over the hole so that it will not be disturbed.
- Come back in 1.5 – 2 months to find healthy, nutritious dirt! Sprinkle throughout your garden.
