A wormery worksheet

Why make a wormery? If you have too little space in your garden, or cannot get hold of many suitable materials for a compost heap apart from your own kitchen waste, an alternative is to have a wormery! The worms used for making worm compost are not common garden earthworms, but another type, known as Brandlings or Tiger Worms. They are efficient digesters of kitchen scraps, turning them into very nutrient rich compost (aka the worm cast or worm poo). They can only cope with small quantities of food at a time, which is ideally suited to the production of waste from most domestic kitchens. Suitable Worm Food Vegetable and fruit peelings; cooked leftovers (inc. meat); tea bags and coffee grounds; kitchen paper and paper bags; leaves; eggshells. Avoid putting in citrus or onion peels. A functioning wormery The wormery can have a base layer of gravel in net sacks or alternatively you could build the container to have trays. Both are to ensure that the worms dont get claggy within their worm pee. Holes in the base of the container or a tap can be fitted to help the worm pee drain away, such liquid is an excellent plant feed. After you have added some food waste, the worms, some leaf mould you can put a good layer of shredded paper on top. Worms function most efficiently between 12-25c.

Whilst the wormery can be kept outside for much of the year, it is good to ensure that the wormery is placed in a shed or lagged during the winter months. Straw, bubble wrap, pollysterene or roof insulation are possible materials that can be used to lag the wormery. Locate your wormery on a north facing wall, or somewhere shady. It doesnt benefit from the warmth of the sun. Building a wormery : A basic square shaped box comes in at 400mm x 400mm x 500mm deep A rectangular shape box can be 900mm long x 450mm wide x 500mm deep Alternatively a tray system with multiple layers. This would need to incorporate mesh between each layer. Any design should incorporate legs or be placed on bricks and have a snug fitting lid. The images below are some possible designs :