- I can't do the worm
That's not a worm though, you have to get down on the ground.
(upbeat ukulele music)
- If you choose this action
you'll be starting or renovating a worm farm
to use and value your own renewable resources
in the form of food waste.
By the time you're done,
you will be turning your food scraps into worm castings
which are solid and liquid gold for your veggie patch.
(upbeat ukulele music)
So why bother with a worm farm
and with processing your household waste?
Because if you just throw away
your food scraps into the bin,
they'll create methane in your local landfill
as they break down,
a greenhouse gas that's contributing to climate change.
Also, your food scraps are a marvellous
and renewable resource and should be treated as such.
By feeding your worm farm with your scraps,
you're making free fertilizer for your garden,
avoiding landfill,
reducing household waste,
reducing methane emissions,
and valuing the resources you have around you.
So, let's learn how to do it.
The first thing you need to know about worm farms
is that they don't need to be fancy to be efficient.
You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars
to create a functional happy and healthy worm farm
that eats all your kitchen scraps.
There are some really good
shop-bought worm farm designs,
and we've linked to some of those below.
However, if you don't want to spend a chunk of money
to get your first worm farm started,
you don't need to.
In its essence, a worm farm is a container
where compost worms eat your food scraps
and then quickly create compost
in the form of their poo or castings,
which you then use as fertilizer,
thereby converting your kitchen scraps
into nutrient-dense bioavailable plant food
of the highest quality with zero waste
and zero emissions in the process.
You don't need a big backyard
to run a worm farm either.
They can work really well on balconies or back steps,
or even inside your home.
Firstly, let's talk about the life-forms
doing all the work here, compost worms.
The compost worm is a slightly different species
to the normal earthworm
that you'll find in your garden soil.
These ones are sometimes called red wigglers
or brandling worms or tiger worms.
These worms eat organic material
and the micro-organisms that live
amongst that material,
and they eat a lot.
Once your worm farm is working well,
you can expect your worms to eat
their own body weight in scraps every day.
That means if you start your worm farm
with a kilo of worms, soon they will be able
to eat up to a kilo of scraps per day; that's a lot.
This is seriously awesome food waste processing
that we're talking here.
Now, worm farms can come
in all different shapes and sizes,
but to succeed, they all have the features
that these red worms need to thrive.
Firstly, a worm farm needs good drainage.
As the worms eat through your scraps,
they produce castings, their poo,
and also liquid, which needs to be able
to drain off effectively so that the worms don't drown,
and so that your worm farm
doesn't go all stinky and anaerobic.
Secondly, your worm farm
will need a regular supply of carbon,
things like leaves or shredded newspaper,
as well as high nitrogen kitchen scraps.
This is to ensure the worms have a balanced diet
and again, so your worm farm doesn't go
all sludgy and stinky.
About 50% carbon and 50% food scraps
is a good balance to stick to.
Thirdly, remember, the worms they have small mouths.
This means that although they can eventually
break down big chunks of scraps,
like whole cabbage leaves,
they much prefer smaller bits.
This doesn't mean you need to dice
all your food scraps into tiny squares,
but it is something to keep in mind.
If you're putting big bits of stuff in your worm farm,
like this cabbage leaf, just chop them up a bit first.
This only takes a second or two,
it's an easy habit to form, and this way,
your worm farm will remain super happy.
There's some things that red worms do not like to eat,
so do avoid putting too much of these in your own farm.
Citrus is a big one,
skip the orange peels.
Also, avoid adding alliums,
things like garlic or onion ends.
It's also best to avoid meat scraps
as the worms don't like them, but flies do,
and a maggoty worm farm is no fun for anyone.
Also, avoid fats and oils, dairy products
and also spicy food.
So just stick to your veggie scraps.
A small amount of bread is okay but not heaps.
Veggie scraps are the go here.
Now that said, don't worry if a tiny bit
of this non-ideal stuff ends up in your worm farm.
It's not going to immediately poison your worms,
they just won't be so keen to eat it,
which means that that food may rot
instead of being turned into castings.
And too much rotten food in a worm farm
will damage the worm colony's health
because no one likes rotting things
right next to their dinner.
Neither do the worms, so stick to veggie scraps.
Placement and temperature is the last big thing
to consider for your worm farm.
Ideally, keep your worm farm somewhere
where it won't get too hot or too cold
and that you visit every day.
Worms like the same temperature range as humans,
so they'll be most productive at about
15 to 30 degrees Celsius
or 59 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Below that range, your worms will slow right down
and eat much less food,
and above that temperature range,
they will abandon the top of your worm farm
where the food scraps are for a cooler spot
down the bottom,
leaving your food scraps to rot a little bit.
Somewhere close to the house
that's out of direct sunlight is often ideal
or even inside your back porch.
Keeping your worm farm cosy and also nearby
ensures regular feeding and an even temperature,
two things that will help your worm farm to thrive.
Okay let's look at starting a worm farm.
You can use this method as well
if you have an existing worm farm
that's not doing so well.
Let's take it apart and renovate it a bit.
The most common type of worm farms that you'll find
or can make are a series of boxes stacked
on top of one another that the worms
can pass between.
Start your first layer with a bedding of carbon,
shredded newspaper is good.
Soak that in water,
preferably unchlorinated water if you can,
and make a layer about as deep as your finger.
Now add a few vegetable scraps on top,
not too much, just enough to cover the paper.
Now add your worms.
This might be in a packet from a gardening store
or ordered online,
or they might be from a friend who has a worm farm
and has enough worms to share.
Give the worms a few minutes to wriggle down
and then put a wet Hessian sack
or just an old t-shirt on top of them
to keep them moist for this first phase,
then put your lid on and wait a few days
for your worms to adapt to their new home
before adding more food scraps.
Each time you visit,
peel back the Hessian cover
and note whether the worms have processed
the scraps from last time.
If there's still heaps of uneaten scraps,
wait a day or two before adding some more.
Slowly, the worms will build up their abilities
to chew through your food waste at an impressive rate
and once that first layer of the box tower is full,
you can start adding a few more food scraps
to the layer above.
The worms will climb up there when they're hungry
and ready for more food scraps.
The idea with this type of worm farm system
and, in fact, all worm farms really is that the worms
will slowly continue to travel upwards in search of food,
leaving behind trays and trays of rich worm castings
with the worm juice dripping out the bottom.
As part of this process, they breed like crazy,
making more worms and increasing
the efficiency of your worm farm.
And once you have a few trays of castings
below your food scraps,
you will be able to start harvesting these
from the bottom of your worm farm
to add to your garden
or to swap with your neighbours for their gardens.
There's a guide linked below
for more details on this process.
As said, there's all types of worm farms,
but they all work along the same lines.
One of our favourites
and one of the most simple types
is an in-garden worm tower.
A simple vertical pipe with holes in the side
that you sink into your garden bed and put a lid on top.
Add some worms and periodically,
some kitchen scraps.
The castings and juice will leach straight out
into your garden bed.
In six months, pull out the pipe
and move it to another part of your garden
and start again.
You can also use a box for this system,
and there's a how-to below.
Finally, a word on using the worm castings.
As said, these are super-duper fertilizer for your plants,
but they're very strong stuff,
so don't use too much in any one place.
We sprinkle the castings really lightly
around the bases of plants
throughout the growing season
right before we water those plants.
Brassicas particularly love them.
We also add worm castings to our seed raising mix.
There's a link below for how to make that
because the castings provide a really rich
fertilizer component for the growing seeds.
It's fabulous stuff.
With a little time and by taking things slow,
you too can become a lifetime worm farmer.
They're possibly the easiest pets you'll ever own,
and they can create serious abundance
for you while they're at it.
This is using and valuing renewable resources and services
... thanks worms...
in the most basic and effective way possible,
and it works.
If you get into worm farming and love it,
don't stop there.
Your local school or community garden
may welcome some help
with their worm farming system too.
These are skills to be shared
which have real-life outcomes for the fertility
and abundance of your neighbourhood.
So don't be shy.
Get out there and spread the wormy love.
Good luck and let us know how you go.