Published 30 December 2020

Taking care of your worm farm

It’s a great time to get stuck into the garden. The most hardworking - and in my case, neglected - feature of my garden is the worm farm. Luckily worms are pretty hardy and can survive with very little love and attention! To keep your worm farm fresh for the summer:

• Bury your food scraps – cover them with a thin layer of castings to keep flies away.

• Keep the lid tightly sealed – there should be enough small holes for fresh air to get in, but none big enough to let in rodents or hungry birds!

• Turn your food scraps into worm smoothies – throw all your scraps in a blender, add water if needed and pulse! Worms will be able to work through smaller chopped or blended scraps faster meaning you can keep feeding them all summer. Foods that can’t go in the blender can still be chopped up to help speed up the vermicomposting process.

• Top with eggshell sprinkles – rinse your eggshells and let them dry before crushing them with a mortar and pestle. Egg shells take a long time to break down but help to keep the pH balance of the castings and add calcium.

• If the worm farm is getting dry over summer, cover with a damp sack or wet newspapers, regularly sprinkle with water, and remember to collect the juice!

Here’s a helpful checklist for you to check off before you go away:

• Add a lot of water to your worm farm before you leave.

• Make sure the worm farm is properly closed to protect your worms from predators.

• Make sure the drainage holes of your bin are working correctly and the excess water is running off. Although worms can breath when submerged in water they will suffocate when the oxygen levels of the water is depleted.

• Add plenty of food to the worm bin before you leave.

• Place a large plastic bag or sheet on top of the worm food before you leave. This will slow down the loss of moisture inside the bin.

• Give them some shade.

Woo - you’ve got worm juice. What next?

When using the worm juice, try not to get any on the leaves of your plants. Dilute it if necessary and pour into the soil at the base of your tomatoes, pot plants or garden beds. If you’re going away for the holidays, don’t fret – your worms can survive for weeks, or even months, without any attention. Make sure you give them a good variety of scraps before you go; foods that decompose at different rates are ideal.

Your worm farm should be nice and moist (about the consistency of a wet sponge), tightly sealed, and stored in a cool dark place if possible. Once you get back, start feeding them again as you normally would, and they should bounce back within a couple of weeks. Hungry Bin worm farms are available at our EcoCentre and in the EcoShop.