If you are serious about going green in the garden, there are a number of measures you can take. The most obvious is to build or buy a compost bin, ideally with a compost tumbler, and to start recycling your food scraps and garden prunings by turning them into nutrient rich compost. If you enjoy the composting process and appreciate the benefits it brings in your garden, maybe you should move to the next level and set up a worm farm.

Getting Started

If you are already producing compost in a compost bin at home, creating a worm farm is not that big a leap. A visit to your nearest hardware or green products store should provide you with the basics – a worm farm and some worms. Be aware that you can't just dig up a few worms in your backyard and expect them to produce fabulous worm 'tea'. The recommended worm types for a worm farm are Red Wrigglers, Indian Blues and Tiger Worms. Once you've bought your worm farm and have sorted out its inhabitants, have a look round your garden and find a sheltered spot to place your worm farm. Direct sunlight, especially in the Australian summer, is not advised.




Food

The worms in your worm farm will thrive best on selected kitchen and household scraps and garden waste. The worms have mainly vegetarian tastes and will be happy with a diet of:

• vegie and fruit peelings and cut offs (though not citrus)
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• eggshells
• flowers and weeds
• dead leaves and twigs
• vacuum dust and hair
• shredded newspaper and cardboard (though not too much)

Uses

A worm farm is great because it produces two forms of highly useful fertiliser. Worm castings are good for both indoor potted plants and general garden use. A worm farm will also give you a liquid known as worm 'tea' which is a powerful liquid fertiliser. However, worm 'tea' should be diluted before you use it on your plants or vegetable garden.

As you can see, setting up a worm farm and moving that one step closer to sustainable living is not hard. Why not take a trip to a hardware shop this weekend and take the first steps to producing wonderful worm castings and worm 'tea' from your very own low-maintenance worm farm!