Meshed-hole Direct Composting design - please comment, suggest changes, advise

Question

I've been putting some worms in my raised beds and feeding them the fresher kitchen scraps. I'm starting to run out of spots to place the food, so for the next bed I build I want to put in some-type-of-mesh holes that go 1-2' down and are simply to to form a hole that doesn't cave in, into which I can throw worm food for the ultimate purpose of direct composting.

Here is the design:

So, some design questions are:

• What would make a good mesh? Chicken wire with 1/4" squares? Large chicken wire + large-mesh burlap?
• Will the worms be able to eat from this resevoir and readily go back into the soil?
• Do I need to cover the hole or place soil on top of the fresh food?
• Rectangular prism or circular prism hole?
• What else to consider?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I have seen this done with plastic piping (the large type used for plumbing mains), which I didn't like so much because I'm really down on plastic. However I loved the concept of it and was also trying to come up with my own design.

I originally thought of making sort of a box from wood and drilling plenty of holes in it, but I like your idea of using hardware mesh better. I'd probably put a wooden stake at each corner, just to keep it nice and sturdy. I'd use a mesh a little bigger than your average earthworm, say 1/2 an inch, and leave out the burlap because, 1) it will just disintegrate anyway before too long, and 2) it will prevent the worms from crossing back and forth between the bed and the compost. Definitely cover it with dirt. Adding a cover should keep rodents out if you're concerned about that. I think the shape of the hole is completely up to you.