Thursday, 25 April 2013



If you are looking for an easy way to create a great organic soil conditioner, then why not start growing your own worms with a worm farm?
Worms can be purchased in most areas and online. The usual varieties are Red Wrigglers, Indian Blues or Tigers, they may be known by other names such as brandlings. It doesn’t really matter which variety you start with, although it’s worth experimenting once you get going with your worm factory to see which variety suits you best.

Check online for a suitable worm farm, or you can build one yourself if you are handy. A worm farm can take up just a small space in your garden to start with; you could even have it in a basement, a shed or a garage. The location should be shady and cool, and sheltered from too much rain – for example, don’t put in under the edge of an overhanging roof, or your worms will drown in the first downpour.
Worms need a bed of dry material such as torn up newspaper, soil and dry leaves. Make sure they have plenty of depth of bedding to make themselves at home in. The bedding needs to be damp but not wet. Once the worms are settled in – you will need between five hundred or one and two thousand to start with – start feeding them with food scraps and chopped up newspaper. Don’t give your worms any meat, dairy or oil, and don’t give them too much food at once. They like veg and fruit scraps, eggshells, small bits of bread, tea leaves, fruit peel, rinds, coffee grounds and the like. Onions and garlic should not be given to worms, instead, add these direct to your compost heap,for good organic compost.  Look after them well, after all, you want them to be happy, because happy worms produce the best compost!
 The watchword is little and often. Feed your worm farm small amounts regularly, and cover each serving of food with a thin layer of bedding material or soil.
You can soon start collecting the worm liquid, also known as, Leachate,  which they produce, which can be diluted and used as a fertilizer or spray fertiliser. The worm casts, the result of the digestion of the food, can be used as a soil conditioner, sprinkled around plants, and is especially useful as an ingredient in home-made organic seed and potting compost.

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