How to Build an Osco Worm Farm
Worms do an excellent job of re-energizing garden soil, and a worm farm is a wonderful addition to any garden, particularly a garden in Osco,Illinois, which is known for its fertile soil. The worms aerate the soil, and the discarded worm produce makes an excellent natural fertilizer. The best way to attract worms to your garden is by building your own worm farm and breeding worms specifically for the purpose of introducing them into your garden environment. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Setting Up Your Worm Farm
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Fill your glass tank with soil. The tank should be left with around 1 to 2 inches of free space not filled by soil. The soil should be moist, but not sodden. Add your Red or Tiger worms to the tank and allow them to burrow by themselves; do not push them onto the soil, because they have a delicate countenance and cannot withstand pressure. Re-spray the tank at regular intervals to ensure a moist atmosphere, but only where you feel that the soil is drying out. Do not saturate the tank with water or you will drown the poor worms. Red or Tiger worms are a good type of worm to use because they like to consume waste, and will be the most efficient worm to fertilize your soil.
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Choose where to place your wormery. Worms spend most of their time underground, so they prefer dark, damp spaces. Do not place your tank in direct sunlight, because your worms will feel like someone has shone a torch into their eyes. Choose a location such as a cellar or underneath the stairs.
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3
Feed your worms. Worms are a hungry bunch. To keep them happy, feed them a diet of potato peelings, apple cores, egg shells and celery leaves. The more worms that you produce, the more fertile your farm will be, so feed the worms well and they will produce more waste to enrich the soil. Once your soil is full of essential nutrients produced by your worm farm, you will be able to start planting. Keep feeding your soil with worms on a regular basis, otherwise the worms will disperse and the plants will sap the soil of nutrients.
How to Decant Your Worms From Your Worm Farm to Your Garden
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Take your worm farm out to the garden and rest it on the lawn.
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Using your hands, gently sift through the soil and worm mixture, reaching out clumps of earth with your hands. Do not squeeze the earth, and do not use a trowel, because you run the risk of inadvertently decapitating a poor worm.
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Transfer the worm-fertilized earth from your worm tank to your garden flower beds, and remove around half of the tank's content. Then replace the tank with fresh, unfertilized earth, replace it back in its cool, dark resting place and leave the wormery to work its magic again.
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References
- Photo Credit worm image by Ksenija Djurica from Fotolia.com
