ECO GARDEN
Wormeries and snaileries for compost delights
If you have lots of kitchen waste, and the compost heap is at the other end of the garden, a wormery not far from the back door is a good idea – and you can give worms waste food that you shouldn’t put on the compost heap.
An ideal base for a wormery - vegetable peelings, apple cores, tea bags and the essential third of paper and cardboard. The end product will be high quality compost
They will devour the scraps of old bread and biscuits that you might throw in the bin, as well as fish skin, left over bits of meat and old cheese. Just add everything in small amounts, chopped up,
adding vegetable peelings, apple cores, tea bags and tea leaves, paper and cardboard. There should be a mix of a third paper and cardboard to food scraps.
The lid must be firmly closed on whatever type of wormery you use. There are various types on the market, ranging from the basic wheely-bin type to the stacked three or four tiered type which stands on its own integral legs. There are also large rotating types, on stands, but these are for community use – good for a school or standing by a village hall.
Wormeries have a sump and drainage tap to catch the liquid that the worms produce, and it’s important to drain it off. It gives an excellent plant feed, diluted to ten parts of water, for house plants and other plants.
A wormery is an easy system of converting kitchen food waste into liquid feed and rich organic compost through the natural and busy action of worms.
At some stage the bin, or one of the layers of the bin, needs to be emptied. This is a great soil enricher or if it is not quite at that stage, can be added to the compost heap or bagged compost from the garden centre.
You won’t get vast quantities of compost from a wormery, but it is a very good way to use up kitchen scraps and provide an alternative to the ordinary compost heap.
Snaileries
This is going a bit too far, you may think? Well, the champion of composting, organic gardening guru Bob Flowerdew is a firm believer in using everything at your disposal in the garden to keep soil fertility at its height.
He suggests using a plastic laundry basket as unlike worms, they like a more ventilated environment. It should have a lid or at least a covering. Put some broken pots in the bottom, add a bit of water, then add any snails you can find.
What to put in your wormery
lettuce
have finished with it!
Feed them food waste just as you would the wormery, but only vegetable matter so that the snailery does not strongly attract vermin who could chew through the sides.
Any leafy materials, cabbage, lettuce and other salad foods are good, and add some torn up paper and cardboard. Crushed eggshells give them a source of calcium for their shells.
The snails will chomp away and produce droppings which will be a good soil improver. After turning out the snailery, putting the snails in another pot while you do so, then you can start all over again.
This might be one side of gardening that children will enjoy.
Country Gardener
For dedicated plant lovers anywhere south of the Midlands, the only
place to be is at one of our Sunday plant fairs. See our website for more detailed information
www.rareplantfair.co.uk
Information line: 0845 468 1368 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56