The Soil
Maker™
Everything you need to install, feed, and grow your living soil system — from first burial to a yard-wide network.
Three steps.
No tools required.
The Soil Maker comes in two pieces. The round perforated base goes underground. The tower rises above. Ground and gravity hold everything in place.
The Hot Zone — where not to plant: The area within 1–2 feet of the base is intense — high heat, decomposition, and acidity. Do not plant anything you care about that close to the vessel. Plant beyond that zone, where the culture enriches without overwhelming.
You may find volunteer plants sprouting nearby on their own — tomato, squash, melon seeds from scraps that germinated in the warmth. Nature doing what it does. But plant intentionally at 1–2 feet out and beyond.
Near where you cook is ideal — feeding should be effortless. Garden bed or lawn. Partial shade is fine. Avoid areas that flood.
Wide enough for the 20" base, deep enough so the holes sit at or just below the soil line. Loosen the soil at the bottom — don't compact it. The worms need to find their way in.
Drop the base in. Stack the tower on top. Place the lid on. No concrete. No adhesive. Just ground and gravity.
Add a scoop of finished compost to seed the microbes. Add 1 lb of red wigglers directly — or feed small amounts and let native worms find their way in over the first few weeks. Drop your first scraps in. Something begins.
Your most important
collaborators.
These are not the earthworms in your garden. Red wigglers are specialists — surface composters that eat constantly and reproduce quickly. They are the engine of the Soil Maker.
What they do: The worms eat the scraps, travel through the base holes into surrounding soil, build tunnels that aerate the earth, and come back. The Soil Maker is their permanent home. They leave and return. That is the whole system.
Night crawlers (Lumbricus terrestris) make excellent companions — they tunnel deeper, carrying culture further into the subsoil. Add a handful alongside your red wigglers, or let them find their way in naturally.
1 lb of red wigglers — roughly 800–1,000 worms.
Local worm farms, garden centers, or online suppliers. Do not dig up yard worms — they are a different species and won't thrive here.
Contents should feel like a wrung-out sponge. Not dripping. Not dry.
55–77°F is ideal. In winter, pile mulch or straw around the vessel to insulate.
The lid and the buried base handle this. Keep the lid on.
Feed it well.
It remembers.
Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and the system takes care of the rest.
- Vegetable peels & scraps
- Fruit rinds & cores
- Coffee grounds & paper filters
- Tea bags (unbleached)
- Eggshells (crushed)
- Leafy greens & herbs
- Cardboard torn small — essential
- Dry leaves & wood chips
- Meat, fish & bones
- Dairy & oils
- Cooked food in large amounts
- Citrus or onion in excess
- Pet waste
- Anything with pesticide residue
Greens & Browns: Every handful of wet scraps needs a handful of dry carbon — cardboard, dry leaves, wood chips. Without browns it gets soggy and slow. 1 part browns for every 2 parts scraps.
Rhythm: Feed 2–3 times per week. Always bury new scraps under existing material. Keep the lid on at all times.
The vessel is a portal,
not a container.
The holes in the base mean nothing stays locked inside. Finished material migrates outward. Worms pass through freely. Fungal threads extend in every direction. What you put in becomes the earth around it.
Fresh Scraps
Just dropped in. Decomposition beginning. Moisture absorbing into the browns.
Active Decomposition
Worms feeding. Bacteria and fungi working. Temperature sometimes rising. This is the engine.
Culture Spreading
Finished castings passing through the base holes. Worm tunnels carrying nutrients into surrounding soil.
Slow at first.
Powerful over time.
Slow and invisible. The culture is establishing, the worm population finding its rhythm. Feed lightly and consistently. Don't worry if nothing seems to be happening — something always is.
Material visibly breaking down faster. Dig gently 6–12" from the base — you'll find darkened earth and worm trails. Plant something nearby at 1–2 feet distance. It will respond.
Lift the tower. Scoop dark finished castings from the lower chamber. Dig small holes in your garden — 6–12" deep, 12–24" away — and pack the castings in. Replace with fresh scraps and browns. Put the tower back. The mother stays. The culture travels.
The culture has established a real radius in the soil around the vessel. Worm tunnels are genuine infrastructure. This is when you start thinking about your second Soil Maker.
One vessel is
a beginning.
Three is a conversation.
As you spread composted soil into holes every few months, you build physical paths beneath the surface — tunnels the worms follow between vessels, carrying nutrients as they move. Over time, individual points of life connect. The whole yard becomes one breathing system.
Space vessels 8–12 feet apart, one per major garden zone. Each becomes the hub of its area.
Plant what you love at 1–2 feet beyond each vessel — in the enriched zone, not the hot zone.
Every 3–6 months, harvest and spread by digging a line of small holes between vessel locations and packing them with castings. You are building the corridor.
Add a second vessel at Month 6, a third at Month 12. Each addition accelerates the whole system.
If something feels off,
there's always a fix.
| Problem | Likely Cause | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Bad smell | Too many greens, not enough browns | Add torn cardboard, mix gently, reduce feeding for a few days |
| Fruit flies | Scraps exposed on surface | Bury all scraps under existing material; add a dry layer of browns on top |
| Not breaking down | Too dry, or worms not yet established | Add moisture; check worms are present; add a fresh batch if needed |
| Filling up fast | Feeding faster than the culture can process | Pause feeding 1–2 weeks; add browns; let it catch up |
You can always start over.
There is no such thing as ruining a Soil Maker. Everything inside it is organic matter. If the culture feels wrong — off balance, not processing, smelling bad — you have a clean solution available at any time.
Scoop out half or all of the contents into a hole nearby and dig it in. It's not waste — it's unfinished soil. The earth will take it and finish the job. Add fresh bedding and scraps, start your worm culture again. You haven't failed. You've just composted one batch and begun another.
The vessel is permanent. The culture is always renewable.