Imagine owning a pet that never needed to be walked and survived on your food scraps. What about if it helped make your plants grow while helping to reduce greenhouse gases and your carbon footprint at the same time. Sounds good, right?
WATCH: How to set up a worm farm
Welcome to the world of worm farming, where you’ll not have one but 500 pet worms.
But how do you set up a worm farm at home? Better Homes and Gardens Online talked to Connie Cao, a sustainable-living travel blogger, who recently set up her own worm farm. Connie has completed a Permaculture Design Certificate and is undertaking a Diploma in Sustainable Living, and her dream is to have a fully sustainable and self-sufficient home and lifestyle.
Why have a worm farm?
The good thing about worm farms is that it’s a much faster process than composting, in that you’ll be able to reap the benefits within a number of weeks, compared to composting where you have to let the pile sit for longer before it’s ready.
It’s also good if you have a large amount of food waste compared to garden waste, as this is a system that focuses mainly on food waste so you can convert this food waste more efficiently with a worm farm.
Remember with worm farms you need to feed your worms regularly. This means if you go on holiday, not only will you need a pet sitter (if you have a pet), you’ll also need a worm sitter to come over once a week to feed your worms and make sure everything is working how it should be.
How do worm farms work?
Worm farms are great for people with smaller gardens or no gardens as they take food scraps only. With worm farms, you’ll need to regularly feed your worms with food scraps, and they will in turn give you worm castings to use in the garden.
Worm castings can be spread in your garden like fertiliser by digging it into your soil. You can also mix the worm castings with water and water your plants with it like a liquid fertiliser.
What can you put in a worm farm?
You can put fruit and veggie scraps, but unlike compost bins, you need to exclude citrus and onions as worms don’t like them. Worm farms also take egg shells, cartons, newspaper, tea leaves and bread.
How to set up a worm farm
Step 1
Follow instructions to assemble the worm farm. I’ve used a Maze Worm Farm available at Bunnings.
Step 2
Add the worm bedding. I used the provided coconut peat as bedding which needs to soak in water for 30 mins before using.
Step 3
Add the worms and their bedding.
Step 4
Add a worm blanket on top (I used the provided hessian material).
Step 5
Wait around a week for the worms to settle and get used to their new home. After that, you can start feeding the worms food scraps from the kitchen. You place these scraps on top of the worms, but below the worm blanket. The smaller you can cut these food scraps, the faster the worms will process them. Some people even blend their food scraps in a blender to make it easier for the worms!
You can watch Connie’s step-by-step video tutorial above for more tips and tricks on how to set up a worm farm.
You might also like:
5 composting ideas to suit every home and budget
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