I've Got Worms

Yes I have! Thousands of them. Worms can be a gardeners best friend. I actually shudder when I visit friends houses to see them throwing perfectly good worm food in the bin.  

Here is our Worm Farm:-

Farm In a Shed

The Working Worms

The Worms in Action

The Basic Farm.

Worm Farms should be placed in a cool shaded location. They need to be protected from frost too. We laid a slab of concrete, & built a basic box on top with old planks lying around. I cover the lot with old carpet to keep the sun out, which encourages the worms to come to the top to feed. If its too hot or cold, they will stay down deep. Carpet underlay or hession is also good. If its really hot, I place a wet old sleeping bag on top as well. The bag can also keep them warm in our extreme Winters too.

Red Compost Worms

To start our worm farm, I placed shredded newspaper, aged horse poo & lawn clippings to form a nice yummy base. We bought our 1st 100 gms of compost worms & off we went. Easiest pets ever! I placed our farm in the old dog run, to stop my dogs digging in it, as they thought it was a good place to bury bones. I havent found a way to keep rats out, but its very seldom. I feed the worms every day, & have a very good rat catching dog, who waits patiently when I lift the carpet up. Usually a scream from me signals the chase. So we haven't had too many problems. We are in the bush, & these things happen. Commercial worm factories come with their own starter kit, & worms. I dont know about that - how long have the poor things been kept & in what conditions? The worms will take a bit to get used to their new habitat & food. They breed prolifically in the right conditions, so look out for baby worms & eggs (they look like yellow seeds).

Worm Eggs

Worms WILL bolt if they don't like the conditions - either too acidy, or not enough moisture, too much moisture & especially thunderstorms. It is important to keep the farm out of the elements if you can.  A friend of mine has a small Worm factory. In 2009, at the end of our long drought, & the year of Black Saturday, we had so many days over 40 degrees. We used to talk about how we were fairing, keeping the worms happy in such extreme heat , such as adding water to them, adding thick layers of newspaper to try to shield them from the searing heat. We tried it all. Fortunately, as my farm is a box on the ground, it enabled any excess water we added, to drain away. In the plastic Worm factory, my friend did not go so well. He went out in the afternoon to see his worms had been boiled. Yum, worm soup. Tragic but true. I gave him another container of worms to get him going again. They cant escape from the commercial factories if you keep the lid on.

Here is one type of commercial Worm Factory:-

Commercial Worm factory

The benefits of the Worm Factories are their small size, sturdy structures, you can buy extra trays, you can access the worm wee (the excess water, very good fertiliser. So concentrated it needs to be watered down to a tea colour) I make my own worm wee by placing a small handfull of the worm castings in a bucket of water & swish. The Worm factory would not be big enough for my needs unless I had quite a few of them. They are also vermin proof. If ants are a problem, place the worm factory legs in bowls of water.

My Mum has made her own worm farm. She had an old plastic garbage bin, turned it upside down, & plonked it in a corner of her garden. She cut a hole in the top (once the bottom) so she can chuck the worm food in, & puts a brick over the hole to weigh it down & block the sun. It works a treat. Every now & again she cleans it out, & transfers as many worms as she can into a new lot of food, using the worm castings on her vegetables. The worms can escape but if the conditions are good, & theres good eatin', they will stay & breed.

Large Worm Farm

Easy to Make Worm Farm

  

Another Style

Worm Menu:-

ANYTHING that was once living. - fruit, vegetables, vacuum bag contents, teabags, shredded paper & cardboard (soaked in water), lawn clippings, sawdust. They will tolerate a bit of citris but not meat products. Feed aged manure, not fresh, unless you know exactly when the animals have been wormed. I like to leave it for 6 weeks just in case. Watch the lawn clippings in hot weather too. Make sure you keep the moisture to it, or you will cook your worms. Moderation is the key. I prefer cow, sheep or horse manure (aged at least 6 weeks), as poultry poo is a bit acidic. Manure is good for keeping them warm in Winter, but again, too much in Summer may cook them.

The bigger the farm, the more food you will need. Become friendly with the local Fruit & Vegie shop and Bakery (not too much of the bread though). If you want to see a feeding frenzy of worms, give them watermelon (or bran & molasses) & check back in a few days. Its a brain of writhing, wriggling, feasting worms.

Fattening for Bait Worms:-

Hmm, maybe make some extra cash? Mix a feed of 50% chicken pellets, 10% wheat or corn flour, 10% milk powder, 20% bran or wheat milk, 10% dolomite. This will fatten & toughen up your bait worms. Though I get upset whenever my hubby pinches some worms for bait, they are my pets after all.

Uses of Worm Castings:-

Fertiliser :-spread worm castings around base of plants 2.5cm thick. Water in.

Seed Raising:- 3 parts aged compost, 1 part worm castings, 1/2 part Vermiculite (a mineral similar to mica)

Native Trees, Fruit Trees:- apply round base & water in well. Reapply regularly in Spring & Autumn.

Liquid Fertiliser:- Dilute with 50% water. (the colour of weak tea)

There are many books on Worm farming. The commercial Worm farms come with simple instructions. Make sure you read them, because there are some do's & dont's to be aware of.

Some helpful sites:-

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1620935.htm

http://www.livinggreener.gov.au/waste/kitchen-food-waste/start-worm-farm

There ARE clever Councils out there who do sell the Worm Factories at cost price to rate payers. Unfortunately my Council isn't so clever. But it may be worth ringing up your local Council to see if you are one of the lucky ones. 

I highly recommend giving Worm farming a go. Its very satisfying, you don't need acreage, or a degree, it's great for the environment, gets rid of unnecessary waste and your garden will love you.

Happy Grubbing in your garden.

Tam.

The Marquee

As I sit here listening to the rain pelting down outside, Ive heaved a sigh of relief. It has been a long hot summer where I live in Victoria, & we've had not much rain in 6 months. Plants and trees that have survived 12 years of drought have curled up their collective toes. The strain on our water supply has been huge. We are lucky to have a great source of water for fire fighting purposes, we also have a brilliant sprinkler system, but it cant reach everywhere. Its been all good news and bad news in the herb and vegetable patch. This rain is very welcome.

Its interesting talking to people from all over the country about how their gardens are fairing. QLD has been inundated in water. Victoria hasnt been so lucky. I just grit my teeth and realise that you can do alot to help your gardens through times of drought, but you cant save them all.

Ill be posting hints and tips for your garden to help in severe conditions. This is where I dream for a greenhouse. *Sigh* One day.

Our biggest expense this season has been the erection of the bird netting. The Marquee we call it. We have an apple tree brimming with fruit. Only one, mind you. Apart from a few cherries, we had a big wind in Spring that literally blew the blossoms off all our fruit trees before they had a time to pollinate.

Note to self - must start thinking about wind breaks.

Heres the Marquee:-

The photos were shot in wetter times. The birds did not get one bit of fruit off me this year. 
We made the Marquee using the straightest dead saplings we had. We have an abundance thanks to the numerous storms we have. Using the tractor's post hole digger, we dug holes as deep as we could go in the drenched clay soil. We hauled the poles up using the tractor, ropes & a bit of swearing. We nailed old hubcaps on the tops so we could slide the netting over easily. We had hand sown 2 X 25 metres lengths of netting together to get the width we wanted so it ended up 25m X 26m. We attached ropes to the netting to enable us to haul the rolled up netting up & over the poles. We weighed the netting down with old tyres and logs. I just slip under one section to get in. We will eventually be finishing it off properly, but we will take it off in Winter & early Spring to enable maximum pollination as the netting does keep the butterflies out. I have many wild ducks who will come in & eat the slugs & snails for me. And also poo everywhere, which is a good thing. The parrots can have any old fruit left behind.
Inside I have planted quite a few different fruit trees, mostly dwarf varieties. Plums, peach, cherry, apples, apricot & lemons at this stage. Im aiming at pear to add to the collection. This Winter I have decided that a very good gardener friend is going to come and prune my fruit trees for me, and show me the best way to do it. I know the theory, but I am useless in practice. The trees are still young, so I want to start properly, with the best shape. My friend doesnt know it yet, so Ill keep you posted.
Inside the Marquee, I have also planted many varieties of vegetables and herbs. I have added any bee attracting flowering herb I can fit in - mainly calendula, yarrow, lemon balm, mint, comfrey, oregano, nasturtiums & borage. I have tomatoes growing like crazy, beans, onions and the main herb garden close to the house. I like having the herbs close so you can nick out and grab some things for dinner quickly & sometimes in the dark. I usually have to check the Marquee most days. If not, the zucchinis become watermelon sized. One of my successes this season and they are another story. 
Here is also where I've planted the vegetables that need more space, like zucchini , strawberries, raspberries, cucumber, artichoke, rhubarb. I am still creating new beds in this area. Before the Marquee, we lost most of the berries, apples, plums etc, to the birds. I have garlic growing in every spot available, again some success, some not so good. Its been a weird year.
Of course, Ill be posting stuff that Im interested in. Organic gardening on a budget is my goal. It doesnt have to cost a fortune. Just a little imagination. And there are some brilliant ideas, tips and stories out there. Lets hear 'em. 
Happy Grubbing in your garden.
Tam