Keen and avid gardeners are more and more averse to the idea of using artificial fertilizers and chemicals and are turning towards natural compost. Compost can be made in your own garden, from materials that are found around every where, like kitchen scraps, vegetable peels, fruit peels, yard waste, dried leaves and grass cuttings.
The process of composting can be further hastened by adding worms which is itself a separate entity, called worm composting. Worms are grown for their castings which is a natural fertilizer. These worm castings are very rich in many nutrients and nitrogen and have essential elements needed for the growth of plants.
Windrow composting is a method of worm composting where the moistened compost materials are laid in windrows where each windrow is about four to six feet wide and the length of the barn is about two hundred feet. The worms are added here which begin to work immediately after eating and digesting their favorite organic food.
If required, more compost material is added to the top of the row which the worms consume. They continue their work by feeding their way from the bottom to the top of the windrow. The compost would be ready within four to six weeks.
When the compost is harvested, a new windrow of horse manure is laid down, adjacent to the first. When feeding and watering is stopped for the first window and head lights are turned on, the worms migrate from the first windrow to the new windrow, since they hate water and light. So, the first windrow is full of worm castings that are used to replenish the plants.