I have a holding bin for leaves and other stuff that I keep until I can fill a whole compost bin to start another batch of compost. I got some 1 year old horse manure and pine shavings from my neighbor and put it in this bin. For the first time I now have worms in my garden area that must have come with the horse manure. I am not trying to make a worm bin but am trying to keep these worms healthy and reproducing so I can start adding them to my bottomless raised beds. They may not stick around but I want to try.

I am excited but I have a question for you worm experts. I laid a piece of black plastic on top of the pile of shredded leaves, horse manure, and vegetative waste to keep the bin moist. When I lift up the plastic there are large worms scurrying around the top of the pile. Is the black plastic beneficial to keeping the worms happy and moist or is there a problem leaving this plastic on top (like lack of air circulation or some other reason).