All you need is a couple of recycled Styrofoam veggie boxes, a handful of compost worms and some worm bedding a newspaper and an old towel cotton or something that is natural fiber is best. Within weeks you will be reducing your household waste and producing fertiliser for your garden.
You will need: Two Styrofoam produce boxes.(I have made a very successful single layered Styrofoam box worm farm also but in this DIY I am using at least 2 boxes. You can get these from your veggie shop or local market. Make sure at least one has a lid. You need screwdriver or other sharp tool for making holes in the Styrofoam box.
Worm bedding: a bucket of compost/soil damp is ideal worm bedding. You can also use shredded paper, leaves or old straw. A big handful of compost worms.1000-2000 composting worms are a good starting amount. You can buy compost worms www.ecovalleyworms.com.au we post Australia wide farm fresh direct to you.
I have a worm farmer hint if you wish to collect worms from your existing worm farm. An easy way to collect worms from an existing worm farm is to crack an egg in one corner of the worm farm. Return a day later and that corner will be full of worms ready to collect.
How to make your worm farm: Poke holes in the bottom of one of your boxes. This box is the ‘feeder box’ – where the worms will live and feed. Half fill the feeder box with the worm bedding. Make sure your bedding is moist but not wet. If you are using dry materials like straw or shredded paper, wet them first and then squeeze out any excess water. Carefully scatter the worms on top of the worm bedding. A handful of worms will contain around 1,000 worms. The worms will arrive in compost bedding just tip in to the farm. Soak the towel or some newspaper in water and lay it on top of the worm bedding. This will help keep the worms’ home dark and moist. Place the feeder box on top of the box that doesn’t have any holes. This lower box is where you will collect the liquid run off (worm leachate).
Place your worm farm in a shady spot in summer and a sunny spot (morning sun) in winter. You can decorate your worm farm
How to look after your worm farm: Leave your worms to settle in for a week. After a week you can start adding kitchen scraps on top of the bedding, underneath the towel (worm blanket). Add only small amounts (around a handful) initially. As more worms breed they will eat more food. Eventually your worm farm should be able to handle most of your kitchen scraps. Keep the top layer of newspaper damp and replace as needed.
To harvest the worm castings move all the castings to one side and add fresh bedding to the empty side. Most of the worms will move to the fresh bedding and feed and in a few days you can then remove the castings. Worm castings are a great plant food. Grow seedlings direct in the castings or use it to top dress your pot plants or garden. Make worm cast teas (liquid fertilizer ) for your garden and soil health there is no better natural safe fertiliser.
You can eventually increase the size of your worm farm by adding an additional feeder box on top, creating a multi-story worm farm. The worms will migrate up through the holes to the new bedding. After the worms have all migrated to the top box you can harvest the castings and store in a bucket or bag for using on your garden. I have lots more info on worm farming, check out our worm blog or facebook or contact me for free info on keeping your worm farm healthy and utilizing the casting making worm cast teas and lots more.