It's Blogging time

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Wormeries – Part two

As promised I’m back with some updates and pictures. For the first few days some of the worms tried to escape. Every time I opened the lid there was 4-5 kamikaze worms ready to jump, honestly they were like lighting. Within seconds they were on the ground. So I decided to put the wormery outside at least until they settle in their new environment.

A few days on and prendo the worms are no longer trying the escape when I open the lid. In fact when I open the lid I can’t even see them. I need push aside the top layer of food to find them.

 
From this picture you can see the wormery outside in its new home. You can also see that I’m only on the first layer. When this first layer/tray is full I’ll add the second layer and then the third layer.

By the time the third layer is full I’ll empty the first layer/tray and move it to the top. This process will continue over and over and I’ll keep adding the compost to the garden :)


 
Look NO worms in sight.. weehee

The is a total of 1Kg of worms in the tray so let’s hope they eat through the food quickly and produce great compost.


 
If you look closely you can see the little falla.

My next post on the wormery won’t be for a while as I need to wait for the worms to do their job and then I’ll post more pics and feedback on the results. I’ll also include pics of any liquid fertilizer I get.

Until the next time 

The Gaff Man

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      





Sunday 19 June 2011

Wormeries

Ok so this is my first proper blog and today I will be writing about wormeries. Why? Because it’s a new adventure I’ve started around two weeks ago.
Firstly I’ll tell you all about wormeries, this is information I’ve gathered from the net. Hopefully this will give you a good overview in case you want to setup your own wormery.
As my wormery is only up and running for the last two weeks I’ll need to create a new blog down the road with my progress and post some pictures.
Ok let’s go.

What is worm composting
Worm composting, or vermicomposting, is ‘the process of using earthworms to break down kitchen and garden waste, to create faster than normal composting. Compared to ordinary soil, the earthworm castings (the material produced from the digestive tracts of worms) contain five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorus and 11 times more potassium. They are rich in humic acids and improve the structure of the soil’ (Ref: www.wikipedia.org, Jan. 2006).
Vermiculture is the rearing of worms for the purpose of making compost, to improve the condition of soil.
Worms have evolved into efficient, natural composters; they never sleep so are producing compost all the time. In the right environment, they eat and digest between half and all of their body weight in a day (depending on the types of worms, the quality of the plant material and the environmental conditions), converting this plant waste into nutrient-rich worm casts; this process quickly reduces the bulk of the organic waste, by up to about 80%

What is a wormery
A wormery is an easy-to-use, efficient construction to house the worms and the plant food so that they can convert organic kitchen waste into a bio-rich, high quality compost and concentrated liquid feed, taking advantage of their natural ability to digest relatively large quantities of organic waste.
Typically, a wormery is an enclosed unit with several separate, but linked, compartments containing live worms together with the organic waste you supply, and a mixture of processed compost in varying stages of decomposition. Usually the uppermost compartment is topped with a simple, degradable blanket to retain the warmth and it should be kept moist. This can be fibre matting, old fibre carpet underfelt (not the latex type), old towels, newspapers or similar. The enclosure is completed with a lid perforated with tiny breather holes.
Wormeries can be sited indoors or outside as they are odourless and hygienic (if a wormery smells, then it is not functioning properly!). Our experience of siting a wormery inside, in the utility room, was short lived because many of the worms escaped and the floor was littered with them. How they got out is not clear because the sections fitted quite tightly together; nor can we understand why they should want to get out, but they did. We didn't like it so we moved the wormery outdoors. There are several different types of wormery on the market, including indoor types

This is a picture of the one I’m using




What are the advantages of a wormery and how can the compost be used?
About a third of household waste is organic, so if this is recycled as compost (by using a wormery or otherwise), you are reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
A wormery not only produces top quality, fine compost, but it also generates concentrated liquid fertiliser. This can be used as a liquid feed (usually diluted with water) for outdoor and indoor plants, thus reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.
You can run a wormery whatever the size of your garden, even if you don’t have a garden
Some wormeries are suitable for indoor use.
wormeries are clean and odourless (due to the rapid digestion process)
They are flexible in use since they can be purchased in a range of sizes to suit your needs.
Because it is so rich, normally the worm compost is mixed with other materials and consequently can be used in many different ways in the garden or special containers.
For example you can:
* mix it with other ingredients to make your own potting compost;
* use it in the ground, in planting holes for flowers, shrubs etc.;
* mix it with other compost, in hanging baskets, tubs and pots outside in your garden, on the patio, in your front or back porch, in window boxes etc;
* mix it with other compost for potting indoor plants;
* add it to poor soil to improve it’s quality

Well that’s the ins and outs of it so fingers crossed and let’s hope my worms like their new home and provide great compost.
As I said before I’ll post another blog with pics and share the results over the coming weeks.
Please leave a comment if you have any experience on the subject.
Until the next time
The Gaff Man  

Saturday 18 June 2011

It's Blogging time


Hi everyone and welcome to my Blog.

Blogging is one of those things where I said one day I’ll start my own Blog but never had the time to get around to it. Well today is the day, enough putting things off until tomorrow and let’s grab the bull by the horns and get started. 

I hope to Blog on lots of topics covering everything from movies, music, travel, problems, computers, games, family, the world of the internet and much much more! 

I hope you all enjoy my blog no matter how much you agree with my opinions, at the end of the day it's just blogging :)

I’m looking forward to the journey.

The Gaff Man