So are wormeries really worth the effort?

Jake'sGran

We have had one for a long time now. It was free from the council. We only empty it once a year in the Spring - should say that we take the bottom half out and turn the rest over. (There is an aperture and lid at the bottom. After this we spread it around the garden, but especially where there are mature plants. It's easy to use. All peelings, tea bags, shredded paper goes in it with anything else that is appropriate. I also tip tired pot soil in there as long at it has no disease. One view of the garden

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Ziggymole

I'm just getting comfortable with my wormery which we got a few months ago - it's a wormcity. I probably underfed at the begining but this allowed me to see what they liked and disliked - I use the patch method and put new waste in one area at a time. Mine don't seem to like most green waste/peelings until they start to rot - they love the roots and outer leaves of lettuce, old compost, shredded paper and finished bokashi waste.

I too have found the "compost" can be quite wet and that the worms don't like this so I've started mixing shredded paper in the top couple of inches - using rubber gloves of course!

So far I'd say that they have been relatively easy to maintain but that there's no way they could cope alone with the amount of waste a small veg patch and average family produce. I just hope the finished vermicompost is worth the effort!

Ziggy

Hippygirl

I've had my can-o-worms getting on for 10 years and it's great. Never had any problems, don't bother abut protecting it in winter and always been fine. I don't give them citrus, onion or garlic or anything vinegary, but otherwise great for disposing of things like the insides of kitchen roll tubes, green furry crusts from the bottom of the bread bin that I don't want to poison the birds with, dregs & grounds from tea and coffee pots, left over porridge or anything cooked that OH and dogs don't want/need and that can't go on the compost heap ( but no meat) I occasionally chuck a handful of worms out of it on to the garden or the compost heap, as we seem to have a fairly worm-free garden! (Moles maybe?)

I use the compost to mix in with coir compost when potting up plants, bulbs, hanging baskets etc.