Worm farming for beginners

Worms are the gardener’s friend. They aerate and mix the soil and convert organic material into nutritious food for your plants. Keeping worms is simple. One thing though, for a worm farm you need to obtain the red or tiger worms rather than ordinary garden earthworms. The red worms eat much more than the regular ones and they are prolific breeders. If you know someone who already has a wormfarm then it is really simple to ask them nicely for a handful of worms to start you off. If you don’t know anyone, try getting in contact with your local organic association or horticultural society. At a last resort you could try the local garden centre or hardware store and actually buy some.

The garden centres and hardware stores will also be able to sell you worm farm boxes. I have to admit that I have never used a commercial wormfarm as my simple and free home made one works really well.

To begin with I recycled an old plastic bath that a neighbour was throwing out. It doesn’t have to be as big as a bath. Any container size from buckets up will do just fine. I put the bath on a couple of blocks so that I could get a small ice cream container underneath the drain hole to collect the juice that runs off. I lined the bottom with some old newspapers to give the worms some bedding. Then I added my worms and vegetable food scraps and some garden waste. I keep a small box in the kitchen for vegetable scraps like potato peelings, corn husks, apple cores, left over greens that the kids won’t eat etc. As this box fills I add it to the wormfarm.

Every couple of weeks or so I put a good layer of coffee grounds on the top of the farm. Worms love coffee and make their way through the rest of the pile to munch on it. A day or two after that I carefully collect most of the worms from the top of the pile and put them to one side in a bucket for a while. Then I collect off the uneaten vegetable scraps which are usually at the top. I put these aside to return later and what is left in the bottom of the bath is delightfully rich, dark wormcast. I don’t worry too much if there are a few worms still in the castings as they certainly won’t hurt the garden. If you don’t want to pull out the entire lot of wormcast at one time just layer your coffee grounds on one side of the wormfarm and take what you need from the other side. Remember to alternate the sides each time you collect.

There are a few things which the worms don’t like to have in their food. Onions and garlic skins are unappreciated. Apparently bad breath is a no-no in worm society. They also dislike citrus skins. Be careful not to put too much grass cuttings in your wormfarm as they generate a lot of heat when they decompose and this can cook your worms. And the wormfarm is not like the compost heap which destroys most seeds. If you have weed seeds or grass seeds in your garden waste put them on the compost pile rather than the wormfarm. I discovered this when I fertilised my strawberries with a good handful of wormcast per plant only to find that I had replanted my strawberry bed with pumpkin. Not a disaster but also not what I had planned.

The juice that runs out of your farm can be diluted to the colour of weak tea and used as a spray on your foliage or poured onto the roots as a plant food. Do not use undiluted juice as it is too strong and could ‘burn’ the roots of your precious plants. If you don’t have enough juice when you want it, take a trowel of wormcasts and mix it with about a litre (quart) of water. Again it should be roughly the colour of weak black tea. Use as before.

I like to add a proportion of wormcasts to my soil mix as it is highly nutritious. I have even tried growing seeds directly in pure wormcast but it is a little sticky for this and needs compost and soil to break it up a bit. I have much better results with the mix rather than wormcast alone.

I also regularly use wormcast as mulch for my vegetables. Tomatoes and strawberries seem especially to appreciate this. Water your plants well before doing this so as to avoid the ‘burn’.

If you decide to keep the wormfarm outside as I do it needs to be kept out of direct sunlight which could make things too hot for the worms. Similarly worms are air breathers and do not do well with too much water. An old tarpaulin over the top can stop both problems. In long hot dry spells I add a little spray of water to make sure that things stay moist but not sodden. In most conditions though the water content of your vegetable scraps will be all the moisture the worms need.

A friend who does not have even as much space as I have has come up with a worm farm in buckets that also works well. For this you need two or three buckets that fit into each other and a tray to catch the juice. Drill holes in the bottom of each bucket so that the worms can climb through. Put the first bucket in the tray and add your old newspaper. Then add your vegetable scraps and worms.. Put the second bucket inside the first one resting on the scraps. As the first bucket becomes full start adding to the second one. When there is a little bit in the second put in some coffee grounds, wait for the worms to get there and remove the first bucket for use. Use the juice in the tray as needed. The advantage of this system is that it takes up very little space and can be kept in your kitchen or laundry. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to generate enough wormcast for the big jobs like spring plantings.

Whichever way you choose to wormfarm you will see the results in your pocket and your crops. Give it a go its so easy.