The worm farmer

This year has been a long hard slog. The ongoing challenges caused by the pain in my knee and hip have put a dent in my creativity. Some days I'd really like to scrap but I just can't get there. So, I've been looking for other distractions and outlets and have been having some fun in my little veggie patch. On the weekend I constructed a worm tower.

I was given this four (ok, almost five) years ago but somehow never got around to installing it. I have a vague recollection of thinking the hole was far too deep for me to dig...

Anyway we've been in this house for a year now and my veggie patch could do with a boost of wormy goodness. What's a worm tower you say? Well, it's like a regular worm farm but its tube-shaped and you bury it in the garden so all the goodness is right there where it's needed. Of course this means you don't get the worm juice but the real bonus is that in this hot dry climate the worms are nice and cool and are less inclined to die after a baking day in the sun. Conversely they're less likely to freeze in Winter either.

Zoe is currently in Norway and while taking a break from learning about the Viking ways and chasing the Northern Lights, she was very excited about the upcoming installation so, I took a series of photos and gave her a blow-by-blow update via messenger. She was very impressed by my hole digging skills. I've popped those pics into a couple of collages to share here.

Installing the tower was incredibly easy.

Step 1 - find your long-lost worm tower or watch a YouTube video and learn how to make your own, McGyver-style. Mine's from Birdies.

Step 2 - dig a hole 400mm deep. This was surprisingly easy but I was installing mine in a raised garden bed. Not the cold hard earth elsewhere in the backyard.

Step 3 - insert the tower.

Step 4 - backfill the hole, making sure all the holes are covered by soil. Only about 100mm of your tower should be above the ground.

And now for the fun part - installing your worms.

Step 1 - add about 100mm of shredded newspaper (thanks Roslyn) and wet it down.

Step 2- add your worms. the experts suggest you add at least 500 but can add up to 2000. They also say that your worms will double in population in 10 weeks. My worms came from my friend, Nikki's compost heap. They're a lovely healthy wriggly bunch. No idea how many of them there are...

Step 3 - add some snacks. This is a thin layer of kitchen scraps to keep your worms happy and well fed. I added a banana skin, the ends of some snowpeas and a pear core - delicious!

Step 4 - whack the lid on and you're done. Check back in a week to see if the scraps have been demolished. Add some more adjusting the quality accordingly. If you find your tower is a tad on the nose you can sprinkle some lime on top.

Note - If, like me, you want your worms to deal with your cat and dog's poo drop some in the bottom of the tower before Step 1. Again there are loads of YouTubing experts out there to reassure you that this an ok way to compost the poo without risking a nasty transfer of toxins to your soil or the food you're growing. If you're worried do some research or just leave out this step. One of the keener YouTubers had a series of four towers all looking after his dog's poo. He doesn't add garden scraps just more poo whenever his dog delivers!

Now skipping to the end of this process, in about six months your tower should be full of lovely composted material, worm casings and, of course, worms. Time to pull your tower out and start again in a new location. Feel free to recycle your worms!

Happy worm farming!