Date: February 16, 2019
Wormery revisited
I reconfigured my big wormery in early December – cleared one end out and piled all of the finished compost plus uneaten food and bedding, and of course all of the worms, in the other end.
I did this mainly because there was some material that had become compacted, especially some shredded paper and cardboard that I had added as bedding. I figured that by turning and loosening all of the material, and leaving it a while, I should take care of that issue.
So today was my first time in about 2 months looking into the wormery. During the colder weather I didn’t want to feed them much anyway, reckoning that they had plenty to sustain them during their slowed-down winter activity. But wow! They have been busy.
Valentine’s Day must have come early for the worms (are they romantic or just eager?) because there are thousands, perhaps many thousands, of worm eggs in the compost now. These will all hatch in the next couple of weeks, and there will be many many new mouths to feed, so I’d better get cracking on collecting waste fruit and veg, chopping it up, mixing it with bedding and lime, and feeding the herd.
Date: January 20, 2019
How does a wormery work?
A wormery is a container in which composting worms live, that is managed for converting organic (usually “waste”) material such as fruit and veg scraps, garden greens, or animal manure into valuable compost.
Worms can eat up to half of their own body weight each day, and their population increases rapidly under favourable conditions, so a wormery can be a very effective asset in many waste management and gardening applications.
Wormeries can follow many different designs, as long as they allow for maintenance of healthy conditions for the worms and easy accessibility for both feeding and harvesting of compost. They can be made from an old bath or fridge or freezer, from stacked car tyres, from plastic boxes, or in a container made from wood or from concrete blocks. There are even fabric wormeries available, and in fact these are very effective.
The main considerations are that a wormery should have a lid that protects it from the elements and from pests, there should be good drainage, and if possible a good degree of ventilation.
