Every Good Garden Needs a Worm Farm

Why?? I hear you cry… Well I can tell you from experience that those wriggly little critters are just AMAZING…every good garden needs a worm farm..REALLY!!

Firstly, For your worm farm, I have to inform you, the worms that go in a worm farm are NOT your everyday ‘common’ earthworms that live in the depths of your garden soil.

No, you cannot, just go and raid the garden for a worm farm, you must purchase either Red Worms or Tiger Worms, these are available from most plant nurseries or I am reliably informed are available mail order, goodness it’s JUST amazing what you can get in the post these days!!:)

Anyhow, a pound of worms ( by the way, the worms are sold by the weight NOT individually ) will start a decent size worm farm, the worms will do their own job of multiplying according to how well they are fed.

A rough guide line is one pound of worms for each pound of kitchen waste produced per day.

Bear in mind, worms process their own body weight and some, of organic matter each day. They will actually smell, all the fruit & vegetable scraps that might otherwise go to waste & duly come to find their own epicurean delights.

Some people actually blitz these scraps in their blenders first. But, the worms actually LIKE a bit of crunchy scraps to eat, so you don’t have to go to gourmet levels of food preparation, but it’s a good idea to cut bigger pieces up.

They will also eat their way through torn up egg boxes, used tea bags, used coffee grounds, crushed eggs shells, shredded news papers. They are not impressed with onions or citrus fruits.

All these scraps are turned by these amazing worms ( have I already said that??) into the castings, this are basically worm droppings:)

This is highly prized, by anybody, who calls themselves a gardener. As it makes THE best fertiliser and a liquid run off called ‘tea’ which can also be used to strengthen young seedling trees, as pest control for your vegetables and much, much, more and the BEST news is it’s ALL free.

What you need for the Set up of your Worm Farm

1) Now you need a dry, protected place to put the worm farm, a secluded corner of the house would be good. But, the size of the structure you finally decide on will be dependant on where you are going to put it.

One thing to bear in mind is, if your keep your supply of food to the correct amount, the worm farm itself should not have an odour.

If it does, you have either given them too much food and its rotting or the farm has gotten too wet and everything has begun to decay.

2) You can make the worm bins yourself or buy a ready to go structure. If you are going DIY, you will need three stackable bins made of plastic, wood or any other lightweight, waterproof material. The ‘base’ bin will need to have a solid base, the other two bins will need holes in their base. The structure needs to fit ‘snuggle’ together so food, organic matter and the worms don’t escape.:)

If you want a ready to go model, try your local council or nearest garden centre. As a guide, a four tier worm farm sells for roughly NZD $50 to NZD $75 then the worms will be an extra cost.

Material Recap

The ‘base’ bin needs a solid floor to catch liquid run-off that filters down from the upper bins and you will need a tap near the base. The tap allows easy drainage to empty the base bin.
I use old milk cartons to collect my ‘tea’ in. This tea is mixed 1 litre of tea to 10 litres of water.

The two upper bin bases need holes in them, to let the worms move up through the floor to reach fresh food supplies. These ‘holey’ bins lock into each other and are deep enough to leave enough room for the worms to move about without being squashed.

To create congenial living conditions for the worms, you need newspaper and soil to start the farm and a continuing supply of suitable food scraps.

Ok you have chosen your location, got all the gear together, so lets put together the farm.

STEP 1
Put the base bin on the bottom of the stack, this is the bin WITHOUT a holey bottom. Keep this ‘base’ bin empty

STEP 2
On top of the base bin stack a bin with a holey bottom. You will have a spare bin with a holey bottom, keep this in a safe place, you will need this when this first bin is full of lovely worm castings.

STEP3
Place some shredded egg cartons, paper and some brown leaves with a little bit of food. Oh yes add the worms as well!!

STEP4
Cover the top bin with a lid, I use a piece of iron sheeting, but you can use anything that is going to keep out the rain & light. If you allow too much water to get into the farm the worms will drown.

STEP5
Allow the farm to settle in for a couple of weeks before lifting the cover and putting in more food scraps.

STEP6
Check on the bin’s progress and add more food scraps as the worms grow and multiply. Make sure that your worms have enough food, but don’t overfeed them – uneaten food will simply rot, resulting in a smelly farm and unhappy worms.

How to look after your worm farm

When the top bin is full of worms and worm castings, put the extra holey bin on top of the stack.

You will now have three bins insitu. Repeat the process of putting shredded egg cartons, paper & food scraps in the top empty bin. In about a week the worms from the middle bin will have moved up into the fresh food in the top bin.

Now it is time to remove the middle bin and use those beautiful worms castings on your garden.

Tips for a happy worm farm

Worms like moisture and should not be allowed to dry out. A light spray of fresh water when the worm farm is first constructed will generally provide sufficient moisture for the farm. Once the farm is settled in you should not need to add extra water. If you add too much extra water or allow rainwater to get into the bins, the worms may drown.

Worms are voracious eaters. Once the worms are settled in and growing, give them a good supply of suitable food.

Worms also like:
Shredded and soaked cardboard
Paper but limit the amount of coloured papers you add
Fruit and vegetables (except onions and citrus, these contain oils which have a strong odour for the worms and they will try to move as far away from the smell as they can )
Leaves
Soil
Egg shells, these take a while to decay.
Worms will eat meat but it can lead to smells and maggots in the worm farm.
Some people add dog poop or horse poop to their worm farms, but I use my castings to grow vegetables, so i’m not comfortable with this practice.

That is a worm farm in a nut shell. If you have any questions please feel free to ask away & I will try to help. Remember there is NO such thing as a silly question.