Wednesday 5 September 2018

A recap on worm towers

Joy asked me what a worm tower is so thought I would recap it here. DB and I were starting to struggle with full size compost bins so built worm towers into each raised bed, see here.

They aren’t just designed for raised beds but can be placed throughout the garden. Rather than add your kitchen waste to a large bin, you distribute it between your towers. Worms adore paper so our shredded paper also gets added, but needs watering otherwise it is too dry for them. Any rubbish from the surrounding area also goes in but large scale garden cuttings etc goes into our council garden bin.

We give them a gentle tossing every now and then to aerate it but don’t believe that is necessary, then more compost is added. You can either distribute the top layers when ready or just keep feeding and the worms move it around for you. Although you start your bin with compost worms, I have also found some garden worms in there as well, they do go in and out of it.

In winter, we feed them less kitchen scraps but more damp paper to help keep them insulated against the cold. Same goes for the carpet tile on top.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the extra info.
    xx

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  2. I have two chimney pots in my garden that I use in a similar way. I add snips and scraps from the garden and kitchen and include the odd damp paper towel. I have a plant pot on top of each one with a pretty plant in. The worms are having a field day in there and I guess the 'worm juice' is feeding the surrounding plants. I would love a couple more to dot around other areas of the garden

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have two of those. Didn’t occur to use them for that but they have come in handy for forcing rhubarb (plus a suitable lid).

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