DIY Garden Worm Tray

A worm tray is an excellent way to improve garden productivity.  All you will need is a worm tray (a tray from your worm farm will work) and some worms and worm cast.  When placed in the garden, the worms from the worm tray can improve the soil, which in turn benefits the whole garden.

The worms you place in the worm tray will need to be fed, and the worms can eat kitchen scraps, moist paper and cardboard, animal waste etc.  They will turn the waste into cast and worm tea, which contains the beneficial micro organisms that will improve the garden soil.  These micro organisms will also encourage earthworms into your garden, which is also valuable to your gardens growth.

You basically treat your worm tray like a farm.

Every 6 months or so, you will be able to harvest the worm cast, which can be spread in other areas of the garden as a soil conditioner.  You will also have more worms, as they will have bred.  You could use these extra worms to create a new worm tray.

How to Build your Garden Worm Tray

1. Choose a spot in your garden bed for the worm tray. Allow for easy access (for adding organic material) and for maximum benefit to the plants around it.
2. Dig a hole, a bit bigger than the diameter of your tray, in your chosen spot.
3. Place your tray in the hole, and fill in around it.
4. Add worms and worm cast into the tray.
5. Cover the cast with shredded damp paper.
6. In a few days, feed the worms a few handfuls of waste.  Be careful not to cover the entire tray, as it will cause the worms to overheat.

Keep an eye on the worms, and give them some more food as they eat the old waste, and keep the soil moist.

You will find you soon have more worms you can make another worm tray or some worm towers.