And Finally...

Well, it's been two years since I took delivery of my wormery and I'm pleased to advise that all is well. Despite the coldest winter for a century, my little guys are still doing their thing. In 2010/2011, I over-wintered the wormery in my greenhouse without any additional protection from the cold and they've survived.

This will be the final post of "Worms Eat My Peelings" as I feel as though there is nothing more to say and I don't want to repeat myself. What I will do is provide a list of hints and tips that I've picked-up over the months and pass them on for anyone still interested. Here they are:-

• Site the wormery close to the kitchen. That way, you'll be more inclined to use it.


• Provide protection during the winter months. Place the wormery in a shed or greenhouse until spring arrives.


• Never add cooked food or food with a high acid content (orange peel, onion, chili, coffee grounds, etc.)


• Add a handful of lime mix once a month to control acidity.


• Keep the drain tap open to improve air circulation.


• Drain-off leachate regularly or the worms could drown.


• Give the contents a good mix-up every couple of weeks.


• Add equal quantities of shredded paper as kitchen waste. That way, the wormery won't become too soggy. This is very important!


• Forget egg shells - they take an age to compost.


• Try to cut up large chunks of kitchen waste into small pieces or they'll take a long time to disappear.

In conclusion, I've found the wormery highly beneficial. As well as a point of interest in the garden, It has provided me with plenty of free liquid feed and reduced the amount of stuff we send to land fill. Don't expect vast quantities of compost because you won't get lots - maybe a bucketful per year. The real value is in the liquid feed, especially if you have lots of container plants or a greenhouse.

I understand that the East Riding Council are about to launch a food and cardboard recycling scheme. This can only be a good thing but it might put people off getting a wormery in the first place. I'd say do both - they are both beneficial to the environment and the wormery is, well, just darn good fun.

Carl Jacques, Bridlington, 2011.

Reboot!

Last time I mentioned that the wormery had become anaerobic and I tried to resolve the situation by adding new material and mixing thoroughly. Well, as I suspected, the worm colony remained in bad shape so I've resorted to more drastic action. Last week I emptied out the entire contents onto a plastic sheet and hosed out the wormery. There was a thick, soggy and evil smelling layer at the bottom. Many of the mature worms had died and it became clear that the environment was far too wet. I recognised material that I'd added many months ago that hadn't even started to compost, including some egg shells that I put in last May. Anyway, I sifted out about a dozen small worms that appeared to be alive and well, added fresh bedding material and waste, some lime mix and shredded newspaper; in short, I started again. I'm waiting to see if the colony recovers and leachate production starts again. My advice is to add plenty of dry material (newspaper shreddings) with each batch of fresh stuff and to mix everything up on a regular basis. Trust your nose, too. Bad smells are an early sign of trouble.

Spring Is Here!

Well, after the worst winter for decades it would appear that spring has finally arrived. I've decided to move the wormery out of the greenhouse and onto a pile of bricks at the end of the garden. I must admit that when I opened the lid at the weekend, I was rather shocked. Sure, there were plenty of worms in and around the lid but the contents looked awful. The bottom third was a soggy mess and smelt disgusting. I removed the putrefied goo, added lots of fresh organic material and paper shreddings along with a good handful of lime. I've given everything a really good mix and left the tap open to improve air circulation. I also noticed that the leachate smelt bad too - a sure sign that the contents had gone "anaerobic." I'm hoping that the worms will be alright but only time will tell. During the cold winter I didn't mix up the contents because I thought it would chill the core of the wormery, which is a bad thing. It looks like you still need to move material about even when it's really cold. Lesson learned.

Worm Check, One Two.

Just thought I'd let you know that, despite the cold weather, my little wormery guys are still alive. In the autumn, I moved them into the greenhouse and made a sort of lagging jacket out of a cardboard box and some bubble wrap. I also made a "hat" out of more bubble wrap and a plastic tray to keep everything in place. Well, it's done the trick. I'm still getting leachate, albeit in rather smaller quantities than in the summer and I'm feeding them around half the amount of kitchen waste. I'm still adding lime mix at the rate of a handful every four weeks that seems to work for me. I'm quite optimistic that they'll survive until the spring provided that we don't have another winter like 1963. Fingers crossed.

A Seasonal Reminder

Now that the cooler weather has arrived, I thought it might be an idea to remind you how to look after your wormery during the winter months.

Worms work best at a temperature between 15 and 25 degrees C. They will tolerate lower temperatures but it's a good idea to insulate the wormery with old carpet, cardboard or bubble wrap in exceptionally cold weather. If you have the space, move it into a shed, garage or greenhouse.

Leachate production will drop, but not stop unless the temperature falls below 5 degrees C so don't forget to keep draining it off to prevent the worms from drowning.

See you next spring!

Five Months On

I'm pleased to report that my wormery is still healthy and producing leachate. The bin is about a third full and I've noticed that the worms are rising up as the bin gradually fills. Once a month, I add some lime mix and a couple of handfuls of shredded paper to keep the worm's environment healthy. I'm going to insulate the wormery and put it in the shed once the weather breaks. In the meantime, the leachate is being used as a feed for all my pot plants and tomatoes.

Crunching the Numbers

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2007/08, each person in England generated an astonishing 495 kilograms of household waste. That's almost half a metric tonne. In addition, Defra published a breakdown of the composition of household waste (admittedly, the data is for 2002,) represented in the following table:

Garden waste - 20%
Paper and board - 18%
Kitchen waste - 17%
General household sweepings - 9%
Glass - 7%
Wood/Furniture - 5%
Scrap metal/white goods - 5%
Dense plastic - 4%
Soil - 3%
Plastic film - 3%
Textiles - 3%
Metal cans/foil - 3%
Disposable nappies - 2%

Sources: Office for National Statistics, Defra.

Sorry if numbers aren't your thing, but I draw your attention to the kitchen waste figure: 17%. I know you can't put all your kitchen waste into a wormery for various reasons (attracting vermin, too acidic, etc.,) but if you only managed half of it, that amounts to an incredible 42 kilograms (or well over 6 stone,) per person, per year. Blimey.