Wormery

There is an alternative where we can reduce the amount of organic waste being dumped in the ground by huge amounts as well making dramatic reductions to the environmental impact caused by the vehicles that carry it. We can all start vermicomposting. WHAT? I hear you cry. Start a wormery, if you want it in English.

Vermicomposting simply means composting with red worms. It’s a way of turning organic waste into fertilizer that your whole garden will love, and the results will make you quite pleased too.

Organic waste includes things like; rotten fruit and vegetable, dinner scraps and leftovers, coffee grounds, filters and tea bags, egg shells and boxes and newspapers. General garden waste, such as prunings and grass cuttings, should still go on the compost heap.

The only food waste items you shouldn’t put on are meat, bones and dairy.

Running a wormery is not only a great way to do your bit for the planet and its future, but you and your garden will benefit directly. The garden will look fantastic, and any produce you decide to grow, whether it’s fruit, vegetables or flowers, will be bigger and better.

The worms are the key to the liquid gold that comes from your wormery. They basically eat everything you put in there, and what comes out of the other end has all been processed and is ready to go on the garden. The chewing and eating churns it all up and aerates it as well.

When you want to begin your wormery, you have two choices; you can buy one ready to go, which probably is easier, or make your own. If you make your own, you will need a plastic box, with a lid. To cope with the waste from an average family kitchen, you’ll need a box that is about 2 ft by 3 ft by about a foot high. The ready made ones have a tap at the bottom to let out the worm juice, or liquid fertilizer to you and me!

You will also need somewhere dark to keep it, so that the wormery can be kept at a fairly stable temperature of 55-70 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll need some newspaper, and of course the worms.

One of the most commonly used worms in a home wormery is the Dendrobaena worm. They’re tough little characters and particularly wiggly. This is partly due to them being surface feeders but sensitive to the light, so when exposed to it, they wriggle to try to get away.

These wormery inhabitants are hungry little critters and can consume half their bodyweight in food a day. They will vastly reduce the volume of the waste that goes into the wormery. Somewhere in the region of 8-10 containers of waste food will be reduced to about just one container, so that’s quite a difference. In ideal conditions they will produce 2 young a week, but you don’t need to worry about overcrowding, a bit like goldfish, they will self regulate the population to adapt to the space and food available.

Setting Up Your Wormery

Make sure that your wormery is not left sitting in the sun during in the summer, and it might benefit from being in the sun during the winter to help regulate the temperature. In really extreme weather it might be wise to move it into the garage or a shed. Some people even keep them in the house. The worms break down the waste matter so quickly that the bacteria that causes any bad odours just don’t get a grip.

Putting some sheets of damp newspaper in the bottom of your wormery will give the worms some bedding whilst they get established in the waste matter as you put it in. Then the worms go in; then the organic matter, followed by another layer of damp newspaper.

Running a wormery does take a while to get going, but once established, they’re fairly easy to maintain.

Your wormery will need to have the correct level of moisture as worms absorb any water content they need through their skin. Having said that, they will drown if it is too wet. One tip I came across suggests putting a brick in the bottom; this allows the worms to crawl up out of the water if it gets too deep. Just make sure to keep a check on the build up of worm soup in the bottom, and drain it off. It can go straight on the garden.

Your wormery will also be fine if you need to go away for a while. Providing that the moisture level is fine before you go, they should be ok for up to a month.

Is A Wormery For You?

If you like to garden, and you like good results for your efforts; if you care about the environment and want to reduce your impact on it, then a wormery is a little step in the right direction, but it’s a step where you and your garden will benefit in a very short space of time. What’s to wonder?