Have you noticed that worms will always be found after the rain?

Have you also noticed that if you have some organic matter lying around in the backyard that after a while, if you decide to move it, there is always worm activity at ground level?

And if you go and dig in the garden, you can’t find a worm?

What do you deduct from that Dr. Watson?

Worms love moisture, worms love organic matter. Worms also love a place to hide or disappear to quickly.

Worms don’t like sunlight.

So taking those deductions, why would you go and spend $100 or so to buy a worm farm from your local hardware store?

Would’t it be better to create an environment closer to what a worm has in the wild?

I use a variation of what is called hugulculture(rotted wood in raised beds). I have some round cardboard cylinders that I placed on plastic sheeting. The plastic is being used as a solariser to get rid of couch grass that is throughout the place. It will be in the one place for over 12 months to ensure that the couch has been really killed.

Start of  more worm farms

Starting more worm farms

In the bottom of the cylinders I placed some small branches and sticks. Next was some grass clippings and foliage that had been composting. Next was the contents of styrofoam boxes that I had been using as worm farms while waiting to move to this place.

It has been raining quite heavily here in Brisbane since February. Winter is the dry season but it is still raining. The cylinders have been great. They are like a raised garden bed. No matter how much it rains it has not affected the worms. They haven’t drowned even though we have had excessive rain and some parts of the yard have been underwater.

Originally I purchased around $30 worth of worms from an old bloke around the road from me. He didn’t go to the trouble of counting them, just reckoned that I had many more than a thousand worms in the styrofoam box. I took his word for it and haven’t bought a worm since. They have continued to multiply and I now have six of the cardboard cylinders containing worms. Some of them are half full with worms and organic matter and the rest are full.

More Worm Farms

More Worm Farms Some With Potatoes

I use the worms and castings when I grow seeds. I half fill a styrofoam box with some of the material in my worm beds (cardboard cylinders), some soil and some of the compost I have been nurturing. After seeding and wetting with the watering can, I place a sheet of glass on top and leave in a sunny position. When the seeds have sprouted and grown to a reasonable size, I transplant to the garden.

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