Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: Worm farms - a guide to getting started

A worm farm and nutrients are a great combination for the vegetable garden. Photo / Pexels, Sippakorn Yamkasikorn

Kem Ormond is a features writer for The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s writing about having a worm farm to assist the soil in your vegetable garden.

OPINION

Last weekend in the vegetable garden was very productive.

I picked and stewed Monty Surprise apples and feijoas ready for winter desserts, harvested chillies to be frozen and made into chilli sauce, and made pumpkin soup with an overabundance of pumpkins.

I really should have been born a squirrel, as I so love filling up my pantry ready for those cold winter nights.

Coming home after a day at work, it is so nice to have healthy, homegrown food ready to eat.

While digging over the garden beds, I noticed I had loads of worms, meaning my soil was obviously a drawcard to the all-important creature.

If you feel that your garden is lacking in nutrients, then you need to look at what you are putting back into your garden.

A good idea might be to have a worm farm, from which you can use the castings and worm tea.

While some of us may have the space for compost bins, others may have small pocket-sized sections, and a worm farm is a great alternative method to get rid of your food waste, and at the same time, put something back into your soil.

If you are a keen DIYer, you could make your worm farm; some people use old baths, but there are some exceptionally good ones on the market, of varying sizes, that you can purchase.

What you need to build a worm farm

Worm farm, coir brick, some dolomite lime, and some tiger worms.

Usually, the worms can be purchased through a garden centre, environmental centre or online.

Getting started

The top of your worm farm is where they will live and where you feed them.

The bottom part will contain your worm castings, and the tap is to drain off your worm tea.

Soak your coir brick in 4L water, it will triple in size.

Then spread this about 2cm thick in the top section of the worm farm.

Add your tiger worms and spread them out.

Put the lid on and let them settle for a few days before starting to feed them.

Note: Do not use compost or fertiliser to line the worm farm; they do not like it. Make sure you use the coir brick.

You will begin to feed your worms a cup of chopped up food, and then gradually start feeding a little more when you notice they are motoring through the food.

It will take a couple of weeks before they are eating at full capacity (based on 500-2000 worms).

Food worms like: Fruit, vegetables, coffee grounds, tea leaves, eggshells, paper products, and even hair and dust from the vacuum cleaner.

Food they do NOT like: onions, tomatoes, citrus, greasy food, dairy products, bread, pasta, fish meat, garden waste, and anything spicy.

What you need to know

Worms like damp conditions, so add a litre of water each week.

If you feel it is too damp, just rip up and add some newspaper to absorb the excess.

You need to add a handful of lime every couple of weeks to keep up the PH level.

If worms are white and not growing, the soil is too acidic.

The soil should smell earthy; if it’s smelly, do not feed them anymore till it comes right.

They like constant temperatures, so in the winter, they would prefer to have their home moved into the garage.

In three to six months, the second level of your worm farm will have some castings to dig through your garden, and you should also have some worm tea.

Dilute one part of tea into ten parts of water and then use as preferred.

Happy gardening!