🎉 Hooray! You've just acquired your very own worm bag, or as some like to call it, a worm tent! 🏡
Prepare to be charmed by your squirmy new mates as they feast on your surplus veggies, fruit, and scraps! 🍏🍆🍌
Your worm farm consists of a worm bag with drainage holes, aeration holes, and a zippered lid. The bottom drainage hole allows leachate to drain, which you can collect in a container and use on your plants or as a diluted fertiliser. 🌱💧
🚀 Getting Started:
-
Elevate Your Bag:
- Use a few bricks to keep the bag off the ground.
- Place a leachate collection bowl, like a pot plant base tray, underneath to collect the liquid for later use. If you’ve positioned your worm bag in a shaded part of your garden, the liquid will naturally drain out and enrich the surrounding soil.
-
Choose the Right Location:
- Position your worm bag in a shaded area, avoiding mid-day and hot afternoon sun. A bit of morning sun is alright. 🌞
- Position your worm bag in a shaded area, avoiding mid-day and hot afternoon sun. A bit of morning sun is alright. 🌞
-
Prepare the Base:
- Place a few layers of moist newspaper at the bottom of the bag to stop the worms from crawling out the bottom drainage hole.
- You can also add a few centimetres of organic compost to the bottom if you wish.
-
Add Coir and Compost:
- Wet your coir brick in a bucket, let it expand, and then mix it with your organic compost, or simply add this mix to the bottom of your worm bag on top of the moist newspaper.
- Wet your coir brick in a bucket, let it expand, and then mix it with your organic compost, or simply add this mix to the bottom of your worm bag on top of the moist newspaper.
-
Introduce Your Worms:
- Empty your worm starter kit on top of the coir/compost mix. Add a handful of chopped up veggies/non-citrus fruit and a few handfuls of good quality non-fertilised compost.
- Empty your worm starter kit on top of the coir/compost mix. Add a handful of chopped up veggies/non-citrus fruit and a few handfuls of good quality non-fertilised compost.
-
Cover and Feed:
- Cover the worms with more moist newspaper and leave them to start processing the food. Add another handful of kitchen greens and old shredded newspaper every few days. 📰💦
- Remember to keep the newspaper damp by sprinkling water on it daily.
🐛 Maintenance and Harvesting:
-
Feeding and Care:
- As the worms process food, they'll create worm castings/vermicompost. It'll take a few weeks for your worm farm to be fully established and for the worms to multiply. Don’t overfeed them, as uneaten food will rot and cause a stink. 🚫
- As the worms process food, they'll create worm castings/vermicompost. It'll take a few weeks for your worm farm to be fully established and for the worms to multiply. Don’t overfeed them, as uneaten food will rot and cause a stink. 🚫
-
Harvesting Vermicompost:
- When the bag fills up, you will notice the worms have migrated to the top section. When it's time to harvest your vermicompost, you can easily scoop out the top quarter of your worm bag and set it aside. The majority of your worms will be in this section. You can then empty out the bottom part of the bag into your garden to enrich the soil and put the set-aside section of worms and bedding back in the bag and continue as before. Your plants will love it! 🌷🌻
- When the bag fills up, you will notice the worms have migrated to the top section. When it's time to harvest your vermicompost, you can easily scoop out the top quarter of your worm bag and set it aside. The majority of your worms will be in this section. You can then empty out the bottom part of the bag into your garden to enrich the soil and put the set-aside section of worms and bedding back in the bag and continue as before. Your plants will love it! 🌷🌻
-
Using Worm Leachate:
- Worm leachate will drip through the bottom drainage hole. Collect this in a pot plant base and decant it into a bucket or spray bottle, dilute it with water, and use it as an organic insecticide or fertiliser for your plants. Your roses and fruit trees will be especially grateful! 🌹🌳
🌟 Top Tips:
-
Feeding:
- Feed your worms their favourite treats: raw veggie offcuts, eggshells, non-citrus fruit, tea bags, and coffee grinds. 🥦🍉
- Avocado peels and maize cobs make great hiding places for baby worms. 🥑🌽
- Avoid citrus fruits, pineapple, onion, garlic, chillies, cooking oils, meat, dairy, and processed foods. 🚫🍊🍍
-
Pest Control:
- If other bugs show up, you might be overfeeding your worms. Give them a break for a week or two. 🐜
- Ants in your worm farm might mean it's too dry. Sprinkle more water to keep the soil moist. 💧
-
Worm Types:
- Make sure to use "Red Wriggler" worms, as regular garden earthworms aren't ideal for these farms. You can always order more if needed. 🐛
We hope you enjoy many happy years of worm farming, as you watch your little wormy friends recycle your off-cuts and leftovers. Feel proud knowing you're doing your bit to go greener and to nourish and protect your plants the natural way. 🌿
Happy Farming! 🌱
And now for a worm joke to wrap things up:
Why don't worms like to tell secrets?
Because they're afraid they might worm their way out! 🐛🤣
Enjoy the worm-tastic journey ahead, and don't forget to share your worm adventures with fellow eco-enthusiasts! 🌍💚