Securing against the wind

I started this post last week, but then lost it all because I hit the wrong key.  Discouraged, I didn't write it a second time but went on to something else.

I had picked up a container of worms -- the container said they didn't have to be refrigerated.  I usually buy the ones out of the fridge, but thought I would try something different.  Well, it was different -- not a single worm, not even a dead one, in the container.  So I took that back today for an exchange and went back to the refrigerated worms.  When I got home from WalMart, I divided them up among the 7 totes, putting the extra ones into the newest tote.

Last week I used up my largest on-hand dowel rods to make wind tie-downs for the totes.  You can see from the pictures that I used three per tote.  Last year I had so much trouble with the wind, even with the plants up against the building, so I knew I had to anchor down the totes as well as the cages that will go into the totes for the plants.  Besides driving holes into the lips on the sides of the totes, I drilled holes into the totes for some tie-downs I have so I could anchor them to the totes.

For the strawberry tote, I used one-half of the broken yard stick to secure it to the ground, but didn't take a pic of it.  It doesn't rise above the tote, and doesn't go through a lip on the tote, but it is anchored with a tie-down to the tote.  I couldn't drive the other half in the ground because there is too much concrete next to the building.  I still have the black tote, and the two large totes for melons to wind-anchor, but I will wait until I can purchase more of the big dowels because the ones I still have on hand are not sufficient, I don't think.

Putting the bags of leaves and/or shredded stuff for composting on top of the bins instead of just using the lids helps insulate the soil contents for the sake of the worms.  I've seen worms in two different totes multiplying, so that will add a bit to my worm collection.