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.

Not A Lot Of People Know This, Either...

Vermicompost is also known as worm castings, or vermicast. It’s different from traditional compost formed in a compost heap as it’s much richer in nutrients. Vermicompost is too rich to be used as seed compost, but it’s a fantastic addition to potting compost or as a top dressing to soil.

Worm castings benefit soil in three ways – they improve the physical structure of soil, add nutrients and attract deep burrowing earthworms already present in the soil. All in all, vermicompost is pretty good stuff to have around.

Blog Features in East Riding News

Just to let you know that wormseatmypeelings gets a mention in the August 2009 edition of the East Riding News. A pdf version of the document is here - you'll need a copy of Adobe's pdf reader on your computer to view it.

Take a look at page 12; not sure about the photo!