Huge vermicompost harvest from outdoor wooden bin

Today I took advantage of some real warmth in the sun to harvest some vermicompost from my big outdoor wooden bin.

Because I never got around to organising any kind of breaker bar above my grating- (and to be honest it would take more than a breaker bar to shift some of the vermicompost it was so dense) harvesting had to be done the hard way- with a fork and a shovel.
First I moved the top six to ten inches of material (where most of the worms and undigested food should be) to one side, and dug into the dense dark vermicompost below. There were still alot of worms in this area, and I suspect plenty of nutrients, but I need compost now for my raised beds- no point in waiting another couple of months and having to buy compost from the garden centre. Any remaining organic matter will break readily in the soil and release the nutrients direct to the plants as it does. I had hoped this year to put only totally finished compost into the beds, to reduce the amount of shrinkage, but that's life!! Maybe we'll get a really hot summer and I'll be really glad I left plenty of space for watering!! Ha!

Some photos below: (double click to enlarge)




The first picture shows the top material in the bin pulled to one side and the vermicompost on the opposite side dug out. You can just see the grating at the bottom.
The second picture is of the bin at the end with the undigested material and most of the worms replaced, ready for a new season of garden and household waste.
Picture three is the pile of vermicompost I harvested. This material would need to be sieved to use as a potting compost, but is fine enough to go as it is onto raised beds or to use as a top dressing. As I said above there are still alot of worms in the mix, and alot of cocoons, so I've put a sieve full of horse manure on top of the pile to attract them and return them to the wooden bin. I've also covered the whole pile with a tarpaulin to keep off the birds. The black tarpaulin will also absorb the sun's heat and encourage all those cocoons to hatch!