Today I fed my worms and collected the liquid castings that are known as black gold, the best natural fertiliser for your plants.
The farm doesn't take up much space, doesn't smell and needs very little attention. The rewards however are huge. As the worms process the scraps you feed them, they produce castings. The solid castings remain in the farm until you separate them from the worms. The finest castings form a liquid, like a thin mud, and fall through to the bottom layer of the farm. I used to have a lot of problems with forms falling into the liquid and drowning but have solved the problem by placing a piece of fine mesh flyscreen at the bottom of the box they live in.
Today I collected the liquid castings, or as a friend calls them, wiggle juice. This I keep in a plastic container for future use. This wonderful fertiliser is very strong so needs to be diluted to a weak tea before use.
I noticed that the worms had been eating the hessian sack that keeps the farm moist but hadn't eaten all the vegie and fruit peelings. This usually means the farm needs more carbon matter which is easily fixed by adding some shredded paper.
I gently folded the paper in and added some fresh food in the form of mango skins and some left-over cooked rhubarb. My worms have a sweet tooth. My husband thinks I'm mad but I bring banana skins home from work lunches for them.
I gently folded the paper in and added some fresh food in the form of mango skins and some left-over cooked rhubarb. My worms have a sweet tooth. My husband thinks I'm mad but I bring banana skins home from work lunches for them.
Now I have plenty of fertiliser for my fragile vegie seedlings and the worms won't need food for some weeks. Happy worms and a happy garden. A win win situation!
This is great - a worm farm is high on my list. We recently began composting for the first time. Thanks for all the hints.
ReplyDeleteThis is the perfect solution to getting rid of the rest of scraps. I'm amazed at how many things you can't give to the chickens!
ReplyDeleteHi Jodie, yes I'm afraid there is nothing much to do with onion and citrus scraps - compost is the only hope.
ReplyDeleteHi Greer, welcome thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you like my post. I have one planned on compost too and how I recycle materials via the chook coop first, so you might like to keep your eye out for that. Cheers
Looks delightful!
ReplyDeleteLOL its not as icky as it looks!
DeleteWhat an excellent post! It sounds like you are doing very well with your worm farming!
ReplyDeleteHow has your garden and/or plants responded to the compost and worm "tea" that you have provided?
Also I love the idea of using the mesh screen to protect the worms from drowning, shows that you take pride and value in your farm, most people wouldn't even give two thoughts to protecting a couple of their worms from drowning!
Nice job! Looking forward to hearing more about it!
--Paul
Hi Paul, welcome and thanks for your encouragement! I do actually think of the worms as pets that need looking after. They're not as interactive as dogs, cats or chickens but I have them locked in a box so am responsible for them. I'm a little hit and miss with using my castings - should do a more scientific experiment to measure the effect. I'm very happy to have you on board. cheers!
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