Your Garden Questions Answered – Home Made Worm Farm
Presenter: Phil Dudman
Episode: 19
1st September 2007
The kind of thing that drives gardeners wild with excitement is worm poo; some people prefer to call it worm castings and it is one of the best soil improvers you can get because it is teaming with all sorts of micro-organisms ready to bring your soil to life.
One of the best things is that it costs nothing to produce in fact, worms are doing us a favour by turning kitchen waste into a valuable resource and they are very efficient about it because they will munch down their own body weight in just 2 days.
How do you go about setting up a worm farm at home?
It is really very simple to get started and is a great project to do with the kids. All you need is a polystyrene box from your local fruit store; a broccoli box is the best. You will also need some bricks, a screwdriver, and a couple of plastic milk containers cut in half as well as some compost, newspaper, veggie scraps, a piece of Hessian and of course some worms, which you can pick up from your local garden centre.
The first step is to turn the box upside down and then place three bricks evenly across the area where base of the box will stand, make a few holes in the base of the box with your screwdriver. This will allow any excess liquid to escape. That is what those little milk containers are for (catching the liquid fertilizer produced). Once you have set the box up the right way, the milk cartons slip in underneath, between the bricks, and the liquid collected can then be diluted and used as a great food for your plants.
Now you need to add some bedding material for the worms to live in. Make it to a depth of around 10 cm. It is recommended to use some home made compost but you can also use coir peat, the important thing is that it is moist and kept moist.
On top of that you will need something for the little wrigglers to eat, they love shredded paper that has been soaked in water and of course chopped veggie scraps.
Now you are ready to introduce the worms. You will see that they will quickly burrow down out of the light and when they do, cover the mix with a Hessian bag to keep the light out and moisture in.
There you go, all done. The best place to keep your worm farm is in a cool, shady spot in your garden or garage.
Check on them at least once a week to see if they need more feed or moisture and pretty soon you will be harvesting your very own worm castings to help boost your soil. There is nothing to it.
Product/s featured:
Waterwise Peat
Episode: 19
1st September 2007
The kind of thing that drives gardeners wild with excitement is worm poo; some people prefer to call it worm castings and it is one of the best soil improvers you can get because it is teaming with all sorts of micro-organisms ready to bring your soil to life.
One of the best things is that it costs nothing to produce in fact, worms are doing us a favour by turning kitchen waste into a valuable resource and they are very efficient about it because they will munch down their own body weight in just 2 days.
How do you go about setting up a worm farm at home?
It is really very simple to get started and is a great project to do with the kids. All you need is a polystyrene box from your local fruit store; a broccoli box is the best. You will also need some bricks, a screwdriver, and a couple of plastic milk containers cut in half as well as some compost, newspaper, veggie scraps, a piece of Hessian and of course some worms, which you can pick up from your local garden centre.
The first step is to turn the box upside down and then place three bricks evenly across the area where base of the box will stand, make a few holes in the base of the box with your screwdriver. This will allow any excess liquid to escape. That is what those little milk containers are for (catching the liquid fertilizer produced). Once you have set the box up the right way, the milk cartons slip in underneath, between the bricks, and the liquid collected can then be diluted and used as a great food for your plants.
Now you need to add some bedding material for the worms to live in. Make it to a depth of around 10 cm. It is recommended to use some home made compost but you can also use coir peat, the important thing is that it is moist and kept moist.
On top of that you will need something for the little wrigglers to eat, they love shredded paper that has been soaked in water and of course chopped veggie scraps.
Now you are ready to introduce the worms. You will see that they will quickly burrow down out of the light and when they do, cover the mix with a Hessian bag to keep the light out and moisture in.
There you go, all done. The best place to keep your worm farm is in a cool, shady spot in your garden or garage.
Check on them at least once a week to see if they need more feed or moisture and pretty soon you will be harvesting your very own worm castings to help boost your soil. There is nothing to it.
Product/s featured:
Waterwise Peat
- Ideal additive to potting mixes. Can also be added to garden soil as a soil conditioner.
- Coir peat is a renewable organic resource.
- It can be mixed into garden soil or potting mix.
- Coir attracts, absorbs and holds moisture for the plants to use over time, improves the wettability and structure of garden soil and potting mixes and encourages beneficial soil micro-organisms and earthworms.
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