If there’s one habit that can completely change the way you garden, it’s dealing with your waste properly.
Kitchen scraps, garden clippings, bits and pieces that would normally head for the bin — all of it has value. Composting is the obvious answer, but if space is limited or you want something a little more contained, a worm farm is a brilliant alternative.
It’s one of those systems that feels almost too simple to be effective. You feed the worms, they get to work, and before long you’ve got some of the richest, most useful fertiliser you can put back into your garden. It’s efficient, it reduces waste, and once it’s running well, it more or less looks after itself.
What surprises most people is just how productive a worm farm can be. A single compost worm can eat close to its own body weight every couple of days. Multiply that by around a thousand worms — which is fairly standard for a home setup and you’ve got a serious recycling system happening right outside your back door.
Getting started is straightforward. You can buy a ready-made worm farm from a nursery or hardware store, complete with worms and bedding, or you can make one yourself using recycled containers. The setup doesn’t need to be complicated, what matters is understanding how the system works and giving the worms the right conditions to thrive.
Worms don’t cope well with extremes. In summer, they need protection from heat a plastic worm farm sitting in full sun can heat up quickly, and that’s not something worms will tolerate for long. A shaded or semi-shaded spot is ideal. In winter, if you notice things slowing down, shifting the farm into a sunnier position can help bring activity back up again.
It’s also worth placing your worm farm somewhere convenient, close to the kitchen if possible. The easier it is to access, the more likely you are to use it consistently.
Most worm farms are made up of stacked trays. The bottom layer is a sealed container that collects the liquid produced, often called worm wee with a small tap so you can drain it off easily. Above that sit one or more trays where the worms live and feed. I like to leave a bucket at the base of mine and leave the tap open all the time as this prevents waterlogging the farm.
To begin, line the base of the top tray with a couple of sheets of newspaper. On top of that goes your bedding. Store-bought systems often come with coconut fibre, but you can just as easily use damp compost, shredded paper or a mix of both. This creates a comfortable environment for the worms to settle into. Once that’s in place, add your worms and you’re ready to start feeding.
Food scraps go directly into this top tray. The worms will move toward the food and begin breaking it down straight away. To help them settle in, cover the surface with something like damp newspaper, hessian or even an old cloth. This keeps the environment dark and moist, which is exactly how worms like it.
Moisture is important, but it’s a balance. The bedding should feel damp to the touch, not wet. A light misting now and then is usually only needed in summer and enough to keep things comfortable without overdoing it.
As the tray fills up, you simply add another tray on top. These trays have small holes in the base, allowing the worms to move up and down through the system. They’ll feed in the upper layers where the fresh scraps are, then move back down through the bedding where they rest and process the material.
Worms will happily eat most fruit and vegetable scraps, along with coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed eggshells, small amounts of bread or pasta, and even damp cardboard or newspaper. The more varied the diet, the better the end product. Strong or acidic foods like onion, garlic, chilli and citrus can upset the system, as can dairy, meat, fish, oils and pet waste. Keeping these out or to a minimum helps maintain a healthy balance.
If food sits uneaten, it can start to smell and attract unwanted pests. It’s better to start with small amounts and gradually increase as the worms settle in and their numbers grow. Over time, you’ll find a rhythm that works.
Worm farms are a simple system, and a powerful one and like most good things in the garden, it doesn’t need to be complicated — just consistent.
