Great little Wormery. Turns kitchen waste into compost

 I’ve had delivery of a Wormery with an army of Tiger worms. It’s great.

The kit is well designed and very easy to put together and get started.

Assembling a wormery:-

   The bedding block is soaked in warm water and expands. The bedding is evenly distributed on the lower section.

   The worms are placed on the bedding material and left to burrow in.

  Once settled in, you can add your first waste, as the worms will start looking for food.

Some of the Tiger worms went walkabout but most have settled in and are munching away.

For convenience I keep my wormery close to the backdoor. It doesn’t give off any nasty odours.

  The kit comes with worm treats to keep the worms happy – Ah – very thoughtful. 

 

The nice things about a wormery:-

It’s a satisfying use of kitchen waste to make rich, clean weed-free compost for your garden plants.

Tiger worms eat kitchen waste that would otherwise attract rats

A wormery produces liquid fertiliser which you can feed to your plants though it needs to be diluted before putting around your plants

Kids and grown up love seeing what the worms are up to.

Not expensive, just a bit initial expensive buying the equipment which will last for years

Easy to set up

Rats can’t easily get into a wormery unlike a compost bin.

The wormery can be positioned at a convenient location near the back door. No bad odours

You reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill

Although smaller than a conventional compost bin used for garden waste, a wormery is good if you only have a small garden (as you can also add garden waste in the wormery – but in smaller quantities compared to a larger compost bin) and you’re limited on space.

 

For info call Wiggley Wigglers about Can-O-Worms

 

 

‘Yes’: items you can put in your wormery:

raw fruit (but not citrus) and vegetables

tea bags, coffee grounds and coffee filters

eggshells

plant remains (including cut flowers and house plants)

droppings from animals that eat plants (i.e. hamsters, rabbits, gerbil) and associated bedding

Horse & cow manure

egg boxes and cardboard e.g. cereal boxes and corrugated board (scrunched up) – avoid waxed cartons and sticky tape

paper – towels, napkins and bags (scrunched up)

Small amount of grass cuttings

weeds (annuals and perennials)

old flowers and bedding plants

Small quantities of young hedge clippings (Large amounts of leaves will heat up and kill the worms)

Small quanities of garden leaves (large quantities are best composted on their own in plastic sacks or wire mesh containers)

Old straw and hay

Woody prunings (small quantities)

Sawdust and wood shavings (small quantities).

Vacuum cleaner dust, hair, wool & cotton

 

‘No’: items which should not be put into a wormery:

Meat, fish and bones – although these can break down in the composter they can attract animals including rats or mice and they can also produce offensive smells as they break down

Citric Fruits (causes acidic conditions)

Large woody material such as branches, large prunings or pieces of processed wood

don’t add droppings from any meat eating animals (like cats or dogs) as these can pass on a number of diseases

Perennial weeds such as couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and oxalis – these might not die during composting and can re-sprout after the compost is harvested. To avoid this, put them in a black plastic bag and leave in the sun for several weeks – then chop them up and place them into the compost pile

Diseased plant material and plant seeds (not dead so the worms won’t eat them)

Poisonous plants such as oleander, hemlock and castor bean – these can harm soil life so only add these in small quantities – chop up ivy and succulents before composting, or they may sprout in the compost

Leaves from plants containing acids and resins toxic to other plants should only be used as mulch around the plants they came from – examples are eucalyptus, bay laurel, walnut, juniper, acacia, cypress and rhododendron

Nappies.

Rats in the compost bin

Rats numbers are increasing and becoming a real garden pest. This is because of the abundance of food.

What to put in the compost bin.

Don’t put food waste in your compost bin because it will encourage rats. Only put in garden waste like weeds, prunings and grass cuttings. The compost should get hot caused by decomposition and high temperatures are required to kill the weeds and seeds.

For food waste use a wormery. Rats can’t easily get in and the tiger worms will turn your food waste into compost.

Garden Worms make healthy gardens and compost

Earthworms are essential underground workers in our garden.

They eat decaying plant material namely leaves, and are important to soil structure and fertility. Most earthworms emerge under the safety of darkness and feed on fallen plant material on the surface, and drag fallen leaves and other plant debris into their tunnels.

There are 16 species of earthworms and it’s the Tiger worm that is most commonly used in wormeries, as its activities speed up the composting process.

The wormcasts which appear in the beautiful lawn or gravel paths are what people least like.

Wormcasts consist of soil excretes after the worms have fed on organic matter. The best way to get rid of the wormcast is to wait until they dry out than then simply brush them away with a strong bristled brush.

It is illegal to kill worms intentionally.

You can get worms to turn your kitchen and other vegetable waste into beautiful compost by having a wormery.

For the best advice about wormeries have a look at Wiggly Wigglers who know everything there is to know about Wormeries as well as sell them.

You can see a time lapse of a wormery in the articles section of www.rightplants4me.co.uk