Does the vermicompost smell?

Definately! And believe it or not, it smells lavendar. The understairs cupboard smells like granny's wardrobe when I open it to get something. However, this is not because of the worms, a few bouquets of dried lavendar were accidentaly left in the bedding, and I discovered them too late.

I cultivated lavendar on the balcony two years ago, but left the plants to die when I discovered that they were a hybrid with a strange, sharp smell. Since the original lavendar smells pretty sharp this was not a humdinger, and yet I dried some bouquets in my study. Interestingly enough they smell pretty good in the vermicompost.

If you feel the urge to throw fragrant herbs in your vermicompost I'll remind you that lavendar once was used to fend off moths, and is probably not a healthy diet for other insects and crawlies. For this reason I'm worried about my new multipet. I couldn't find any dead worms when I dug around in the compost an hour ago, which I think is a good sign. On the other hand I could'nt find any live ones either - only one that crept away surprisingly fast. This uncertainity about my wigglers' fate should make my compost a Schrödinger's vermicompost, at least until I've learned how to dig for worms.