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Are you gift shopping for a gardener? Do you live on the edge? Here's a gift you just have to give: a vermicompost system.

Vermicompost? In short, vermicompost is worm poop. The garden variety of worms dig holes in soil, providing spaces for air to get in among a plants' roots- this is a good thing for the plants. Other types of worms eat and quickly break down leaves, sticks, and food scraps into rich worm castings that help your plants thrive.

What does this have to do with Compost?

Gardeners nourish their plants by heaping lawn clippings, weeds, dead garden plants (for example, annuals at the end of a growing season), and kitchen scraps together so they rot into compost-nutrient-rich organic fertilizer. They then add this compost to their planting beds, providing essential nutrients for vegetable, fruit, flower, and other ornamental plants. Composting yard and kitchen waste reduces the cost of dumping trash and of conditioning garden soil.

Strategies abound for speeding up the composting process. A simple heap may take six months or a year to begin producing useful compost. Stirring the heap can make its contents break down more quickly. So, a gardener might use a compost tumbler: a barrel mounted on an axle to ease mixing the barrel's contents. Manufacturers claim tumblers can produce compost in as little as six weeks.

Growing quickly in popularity, worms break down half their body weight into compost each day. So, a vermicompost system housing two pounds of worms can convert a pound of kitchen scraps into plant food in one day.

A Vermicompost System?

There are several manufacturers and suppliers of vermicompost systems. A typical system is a set of plastic trays with worm-sized holes in them. You provide "bedding" in the form of damp cardboard, and add kitchen scraps as you produce them. The worms eat away, converting your kitchen scraps into compost.

When a tray is full (of worm castings and a final serving of kitchen scraps), you stop adding scraps and place a new tray on top. As you add scraps to the new tray, the worms find their way up through the holes and do their composting work there. In time, you remove the first tray and use its rich worm castings in your garden.

Amazingly, most worm composting systems will work as well indoors as outdoors. In fact, people set them up on their kitchen floors, and even on their kitchen counters. Of course, you can tuck one into a corner of the basement if you prefer- the worms won't know the difference as long as you keep feeding them. Amazingly, you can manage a worm composting system so it doesn't let off unpleasant odors.

Be Outrageous: Give a Vermicomposter

There are a few other minor details to learn about worm composting. For example, if your worms must live outside through a cold winter, it's important to provide insulation to keep them from freezing- they won't survive when their bedding and food scraps drop below 40 degrees.

Any worm composting system should come with enough instructions to get a beginner started. As well, there are many web sites that teach vermicomposting. When you set up your favorite gardener with a system this holiday, hold off delivery of the worms- be certain your gift's recipient will have the system up and ready before the worms arrive.

Daniel Gasteiger, the original CitySlipper, blogs to help people grow produce at home. His web site, teaches about growing vegetable and fruit in limited space. Visit to find a relatively inexpensive vermicomposting system as well as other fine gifts to warm a gardener's heart.