So I want to be a crazed outlaw gardener , what better place to start than to rip someone off. Brave me did just that... heres a great article from the ABC website by their presenter Jane Edmanson..thanks guys...
oh and Here's the link to their wonderful site.
The benefits of a worm farm.
There can be no doubt that worms are the best thing for your garden. Not ordinary worms, but true composting worms - red worms from the Amazon, and Tiger Worms. Their job is to live in a worm farm and decompose organic matter to produce marvellous stuff, called worm castings, which gives the garden a surge.
It’s easy to get a worm farm established. It’s made up of levels of plastic containers. Start with a solid base, and then add others with perforation. The aim is to build layers for the worms to move through. Look for a base that collects the liquid, (which will drain from the top), and a tap at the bottom means it’s possible to collect the liquid in a bottle. It’s absolutely fantastic for watering all your pot plants but it needs to be diluted at 10 to 1.
When setting up a worm farm firstly consider where to put it. A cool, dry space is fine, but not in the hot afternoon sun. Next step is to set up the base, or bedding area, which needs to be put down with a layer of moistened newspaper.
The worms are available in bulk from hardware stores or a general nursery. About 500 come in a little bag with some bedding material, which is usually sawdust. Just spread that out.
Only feed a little bit at this stage because they are getting settled into the bedding material. Use lettuce, old bits of banana, anything that you've got that's wasteful in the kitchen sink. Then add just enough newspaper or hessian over the top to keep them moist. Always make sure that the newspaper, or hessian, is kept moist. They will start to feed and after about two weeks, add the next layer on top and that's the time to start feeding all organic waste and the worms will travel up through the perforations.
Worms like moistened cardboard or newspaper, food scraps, and they love eggshells, but crunch them up a little. It gives them variety in their diet. Coffee grindings and tea leaves are absolutely fantastic and throw in all the kitchen scraps. But don’t add too much citrus and onions, which are acidic and worms don't like them that much. Just use a few.
Things to avoid include tough garden clippings because it takes a long time for a worm to chew through them and meat, because that attracts vermin. But dog hair and vacuum cleaning bags are fantastic. Then put the lid on to seal it.
If the worm farm is too dry and has ants, then add vegetable matter that rots down and some water to ensure it isn't too dry. Little vinegar flies hovering means it's too acidic, so add some lime and ruffle it up a little.
After four or five months the worm casts or vermicast on the bottom level will be ready to use. It’s powerful stuff. To get the worms out before putting the vermicast onto the garden, just put them in the sunlight and scrape the top layer of the worm castings off. The worms will then tunnel down to get away from the sunlight. Use vermicast wisely because it is potent. A piece about 10cm is enough to put around a shrub or pot plant. Just sprinkle it around plants and they will love it.
Many people think worms are yucky, but in fact they are quite clean. They have no known diseases and their digestive system destroys pathogens. The job they do cannot be compared to anything else. If everyone had a worm farm our compostable garbage would be reduced by 1 tonne per person per year. That's an amazing amount and worms do it all for you. They are really fantastic - so happy worm farming.
See , wasn't that great !
