I have long promised myself a wormery and as the compost bin in the garden was on the verge of collapse it seemed the perfect time to get a wormery to put in the garden to cope with the waste we produce in the kitchen. So I ordered a wormery from Wiggly Wigglers (
www.wigglywigglers.co.uk) and this week I have set it up! It fits neatly next to the recycling bins, is easy to to set up and the worms are fascinating. Most of the things that we would put on the compost can go in, as well as things like dust from the vacuum cleaner.
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Adding worms!
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When the worms have settled in it is OK to start adding waste. Not too much to start with, the worms need a chance to get going - but to keep the wormery fresh it is a good idea to add crushed egg shells or lime mix regularly to stop everything getting too acid. We keep a caddy in the kitchen to collect the waste so it is more convenient to go to the wormery when that is full. An important spin off to getting lovely compost to use in the garden or allotment is that the worms produce liquid feed that can be drained off and diluted to water on the fruit and veg!
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| Worm Cafe in use |
You can also do a low cost version of a wormery by buying simple black plastic boxes, drill a couple of holes low down where the bottom bends up to the side wall to let the juice out. Total cost 3 euros a box. I have four going in the basement.
ReplyDeleteTo empty them out, on a sunny day turn out the whole box on a board, spread the soil out thin, place something to creat shade in the middle of the soil- wet newspaper or the box itself works fine. As the soil dries the worms wriggle into the shade, you can harvest the soil and start the box going again.
On rubbish, one word of advice, onion skins and the like as well as citrus skins are a bit of a no no, kills the worms. Mine aren't too keen on potato skins- but love coffee grinds, newspaper cut up into strips and soaked, my partner's hair,and ripped up old egg boxes.
It is so much faster than compsting.
Thanks for the advice- must admit it was a bit pricey but I'm hoping it lasts a long time!
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