MAKING A WORM FARM

Selecting a container

One of the council regulations for having a worm farm to use on the verge is that it has to be mobile, so Costa has selected an acrylic bath for his worm farm which will make it more portable. You can make a worm farm from many different containers, but the advantage of using a bath tub is that the base has a slope towards the drain so all the worm juice can run into a bucket below.

Building the Bath Worm Farm

Timber Frame: Costa has made a timber frame for the bath tub out of recycling a futon bed frame and timber sourced from old pews to use for the load-bearing timber.

Drainage Layer: For this, he's using 2 re-purposed nursery trays turned upside down for the drainage layer. These are placed in the bottom of the bath tub and allow the moisture to drain out the bottom.

Separation Layer: A layer of geo-fabric forms the separation layer. This keeps the worms, food scraps and worm castings from entering the drainage layer. Geo-fabric is available from most building supply shops. If you can't find geo-fabric, you can use hessian, mesh or shadecloth instead.

Base Layer: Costa is using shredded newspaper, but you can also use coconut fibre. This layer is the 'worm's bedroom'. This is where they go when they're not eating. Lay about 5 to 10 centimetres in depth and water in gently using a hand watering can or hose set on the sprinkler setting.

Compost and Soil Layer: This layer goes on next. Use home-made compost and potting mix. If you haven't got any compost, you can use straight potting mix or soil from the garden. Add a few handfuls of manure as an extra food source. Water this in gently.

Add the Worms: There are thousands of varieties of worms that you can use in your worm farm, but tiger worms are the best. You can buy them at your local nursery or garden centre or contact a specialist supplier and they can mail them to you!

Covers: The worms will need to be covered to block out light and to prevent the worm farm from drying out, being rained on and from animals trying to get in to eat the food scraps. Use a dampened hessian bag that sits on the soil layer and then add a lid (In this case a timber door) that is attached to the timber frame by hinges.

Placement of the Worm Farm

Location: Costa has picked a sheltered spot on a south-facing wall for the worm farm bath. It's shaded so it won't get too hot and dry out. Be sure to level the worm farm in its position.

Using Worm Juice and Worm Castings

After a while, you'll notice liquid collecting in the bucket below the drain of the worm farm. This 'worm wee' or 'worm juice' is diluted with water to form a liquid fertiliser for plants.

You'll also get worm castings (or worm poo) from the worm farm. This is what the worms turn all the food scraps into. This is a great soil conditioner that improves the moisture-holding capacity, adds nutrients and give the soil a better structure.

Worm Care:

Be careful not to feed the worms too much - especially in the first few days. If the worm farm begins to smell pungent, it means there is too much food!

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