GARDENING - BUILD A WORMERY

WORMS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND HOW TO USE THEM

One of the most important aspects of a gardener’s armoury is access to soil improvers and fertilizers. These can be purchased in packets and bags from most DIY stores and garden centres. However lurking beneath virtually every gardeners feet are creatures busily toiling away improving the soil and enriching the ground with natural fertilizer, I am of course referring to the humble worm.

In every compost heap they tend to arrive and do their work turning waste into compost along with all the other bugs and bacteria associated with decomposition.

I have been looking at using these wonderful creatures on an industrial scale. This means setting up a wormery.  After browsing the tinterweb I have found many companies offering ready to go wormeries and plenty of advice on building cheap ones out of discarded or purchased plastic boxes. Some of the boxes can cost a fortune as they resemble bee hives others are strictly functional, with a tap at the bottom for removing the leachate. Which is the juices secreted by the worms which in itself is a very strong fertilizer which requires dilution and if it is to be stored needs to be aerated with air bubbles to prevent bacteria turning it septic.

Most of the bought wormeries come supplied with worms to start the process off, but if you are to make your own then you need to find a reputable supplier of composting worms. There are several types of worms used and each does a separate job in consuming kitchen waste. A good mixture of TIGER WORMS can be bought to get started. They will quickly multiply to take advantage of the food available.

There is a simpler form of wormery which cuts out the middle man so to speak. The worm Tower feeds the worms in your garden directly and is simple to manufacture.

1. Take a metre length of 150mm(6”) PVC pipe

2. Drill 6mm holes at 50mm centres in all but the top 100mm of the pipe. (Making sure the integrity of the pipe is not compromised by drilling too many holes)

Alternatively any bucket or container with a large hole in the bottom and 6mm holes in the sides.

3. Bury the pipe in the soil so the top holes are under the surface.

4. Provide a cap for the pipe. A fitted blanking piece or an upturned plant pot to stop vermin consuming the contents

5. Fill the pipe with kitchen waste, cat poo, dog poo, grass cuttings and soft garden waste (weeds etc) and the worms will come and feed distributing the worm cast fertilizer around the tower. Keep topping up the tower as required.

Tiger Worms can be added to kick start the process but are not strictly necessary.

If you place several of these towers around the garden you will feed the garden without the need for compost bins, which can take up to a year to compost the waste material.