Look after your worm farms this summer

With the onset of hot weather, a reminder to look after your worms! Worm farm worms that is! Our CWLL worms were divided into two farms to basically reduce the possibility of losing them all through heat impact. The new ‘farm’ is a bit more transportable. Worm farms have always been a fascination for me for various reasons. Both of my worm farms are mass-produced units that for my purposes (of being able to transport and use as an educational tool – as well as consuming kitchen scraps) work well. I have seen some of the most complicated worm farms, and pleasingly the most simple of worm farms. If a worm farm is operating properly it does not smell, it is not exposed to vermin and, you will hopefully have some fabulous vermicast to use at the end on your garden. The basic concept is a box (or two boxes) with holes in the base (these can just be drilled in a plastic container) and a lid on the top and a container for storing your worm ‘tea’ on the bottom. The important thing is to remember that it needs to be kept in a cool space. A garage or garden shed (if it is shaded) would be pretty fabulous! Don’t put them in direct sunlight, or you will have wasted a lot of time and energy, as well as killing your lovely worms. You need to make sure that you have a porous barrier above the bottom layer so that worms don’t fall through into the bottom container and drown. You can purchase coir or coconut fibre, newspaper or hessian to line the base of the main tub. You will be shocked at how quickly the worms can consume all of this fibre. Pop your worms in and grab some more damp newspaper or a ‘worm blanket’. Check on them in a few days to see how they are going and then try (a few) scraps. You will soon work out what they can handle. If things smell off, you will need to cut back on the scraps. If things are ticking well, you might be able to add a layer on top! I think a worm farm would be a fantastic Christmas gift. It is very satisfying to watch your food scraps being consumed by these amazing creatures. For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare