Tuck up your wormery

[PLUMPUDDING]

I'm sure wormeries appear somewhere else, but I can't find it.

I just thought I would put in a reminder to move your wormery to a sheltered covered spot, insulate it if necessary with a bit of bubble plastic round the sides. I don't and they got through last winter OK in a covered corner.

The other thing is to give them a good feed, top up with a good layer of fallen leaves and a few layers of newspaper on top - if you haven't one of those expensive cosy moisture mat things they sell. Then if you forget, or the weather is too bad to attend to them they won't starve and will be nice and cosy.

Also I never leave the tap closed but let it drain into a bowl to use on my house plants etc. The wormery gets too wet it you leave it closed.

[Nature's Babe]

Thoughtfull advice Plumpudding, my worms are all in the garden I think naturally they just go deeper, do you need to check they don't dry out in a heatwave too? What do you find are the advantages of wormery against compost, is it just quicker, or better in some way?

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi N B, The wormery never dries out but I do keep a newspaper on top of the food I put in. They produce so much "worm wee" that they are more likely to drown if you keep the tap closed. It makes a very nutritious plant food diluted a bit.

The compost it makes is a lovely consistency, moist and dark and very fine. I keep it in a sack for special potting mixes and to give plants a treat that have been producing a lot of flowers or fruit.

You don't get a lot of compost, not compared to the compost heaps, but I've got my wormery near the back door, so it is easy to top it up with a few salad leaves, banana skins, or vegetable peelings etc. They also like torn up cardboard and crushed egg shells. It isn't a quick process, but what they produce is very good, and you also have an almost constant supply of worm liquid if you keep a screw top bottle handy to fill from the container under the tap.

[Mike Vogel]

I split my wormery into two. Whereas both make good potting compost, the original one with the built-in tap gets a lot of liquid but the other one, formed simply by taking one of the original boxes and putting it on top of a suitable plastic box which I found, with a brick to keep it out of the liquid, has produced barely any liquid at all. I can't work it out.

I tend to put my wormeries in the greenhouse over winter, as it doesn't often get too cold there. But they are rugged up with bubblewrap, as you suggest, PP.

[Stephen]

I have left my wormery out for the past two winters without any problems at all. I have put some corrugated cardboard in the space between lid and the compost and everything has been fine.
This is in the chilly Chilterns (further north more care may be needed)

Edited to add: regarding dampness in the womery and volume of liquid drained out, I get through a couple of cafetieres of coffee each day and I now put the grounds directly onto the soil rather than into the sink-basket (and thus into the wormery). This has created a much drier wormery and more liquid in the sump (presumably it now drains better and was a bit water-logged before).

[Stephen]

Incidentally, the other wormery thread is http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=241 in the "Birds, Animals & Livestock" section

[Mike Vogel]

To get the wormery dry enough, I just add more newspaper, egg cartons and other absorbant stuff.

I have just moved my wormery out of the sunshine and into its summer location. I drained it and got the best, thickest, richest mixture yet. the worms have really been accelerating during the warmer weather..

[Stephen]

Mike
Like you I have just dug out the wormery and got some good stuff from the bottom half. Thank goodness for the warm weather.
Like you I add quite a lot of cardboard and paper (I keep a box of torn-up stuff in the kitchen)