Compost worms are a particular type of earthworms.
They are segmented wiggly worms that are reddish-purple in color, and are 2 – 3 inches in length, otherwise known as red wigglers.
They prefer warm environments but can adjust well to temperature differences.
They thrive in decaying organic materials like rotting vegetation, manure, and compost. They live right at the surface and bring materials they have processed to the top.
However, they will only survive in a garden if there are ample organic materials for them to process.
It is not advisable to disperse or use compost worms out in your gardens. They are much better to stay in the compost bin or area.
Housing Worms
Worms that compost do best in their own worm home or a composting bin.
This way it is easier to control the volume of food they take in, their habitat temperature, and the moisture level.
Having worm farms, or compost bins where they create a nutritious soil, is a great way to create your own fertilizer.
However, even when worms live in a separate area from the garden, when it comes time to put the compost in the garden, you will inevitably be putting worms in the garden too.
Sometimes there isn’t room for a separate home or bin just for worms anyway.
Here are some strategies to keep composting worms – and native earthworms – alive and thriving in your garden.
Feeding Stations / Worm Farms
Garden worm feeding stations are small containers placed within the garden where you give worms types of food and they give back nutrients to the garden, through the castings or waste they form after digesting the types of food you give them.
Keeping the container in the garden is a great idea when it comes to saving some space.
Getting the Bucket
You can use a large bucket or PVC pipe that is generous in diameter. It is important to use one with a secure fitting lid to keep other pests from getting into it.
You will cut the bottom off of the bucket and drill holes in the sides or PVC pipe so that the worms can come and go as they wish.
Do Not Forget: The top few inches should be hole free. If you can’t create a bucket, you can also purchase one that is done.
Placing the Feeder
You will want your worm farm in the garden location that is most accessible and close to plants that will benefit from the worms.
You may find it necessary to transport the compost to the furthest edges of your garden, or to have multiple worm feeding stations.
Soak the area in the area you plan to dig, and dig a hole large enough for your bucket. You will want the top of the bucket to stick above the ground an inch or two, but other than that, the whole bucket should be buried.
Important: While you secure and surround the area with some of the soil that you removed, make a point to keep the lid on.
Filling the Feeder
After that is done, some cardboard will need to be utilized. Yes, cardboard. It makes the best bedding.
To get your cardboard, a few easy places include toilet paper tubes and egg cartons, but really any plain brown cardboard will work.
Tear or cut your cardboard into palm-sized pieces, moisten it, and place it in the bottom of the bucket – which at this time is really just the soil in your garden.
After that, put some moistened newspaper balls on top.
Adding the Worms
Now, it’s time for the worms! You can get composting worms from feed stores, local nurseries, or even bait and tackle stores.
After you add the worms in, give them a little more wet newspaper and maybe some grass or mulch.
Next, you will put the lid on the feeder and let them settle for a couple of days, then water your garden as normal, but just ensure you keep the area around the feeder wet.
Feeding the Worms
In a few days, you will be able to add food scraps to the feeder. Your worms will be happy to eat fruits and vegetables, but don’t feed them meat or dairy.
If you give them too much food, the feeder will smell like food rotting because the worms can’t eat it fast enough.
Remember you will also need to buffer with additional shredded cardboard or chopped straw to maintain adequate oxygen in the feeder.
Harvesting the Feeder
When the feeder is more full of soil than it is decomposing fruit and vegetables, you may want to consider removing some of it.
You do this by removing the top half and setting that to the side. Then, you take the bottom half and spread it through your garden.
Then you put down more cardboard and newspaper as bedding, put the top half back into the feeder, and continue to feed as normal.
Food Deposits
If a worm farm isn’t the best choice for your garden, you can also dig smaller food deposits throughout your garden in assorted areas and throw kitchen scraps into them.
Composting worms as well as the local worm population are happy to take care of the scraps for you. That said, this option is not as effective or as speedy as a purpose-built feeder.
Mulching
You can add mulch to your garden in addition to any of the previous methods or use it as a method of its own.
Here’s why:
- Mulch will feed composting worms regardless of where they are located in your garden and will draw other worms into your garden.
- The best mulches to use are lucerne mulch and sugar cane mulch, but you can use hay, straw and grass clippings.
- Wood chips are good, but only because they go on top of other mulch, as they are very complex and extremely slow to break down.
Other Tips for Compost Worms in Your Garden
Worms run on moisture, so keep your garden moist for your plants and your worms.
Here’s how to do that:
- Having a variety of plants will help make a truly thriving ecosystem for your worms.
- When it comes to fertilizer, if you can try to use it more on the organic side as opposed to using fertilizer, chemical fertilizers can impact your worms. They are susceptible to this.
Conclusion
In summary, adding composting worms to your garden bed is an excellent way to create a thriving and abundant garden.
Red wigglers do require certain conditions in order to facilitate their work, however, once you set them up, these worms will do more work than you ever will.