Easy DIY Mobile Worm Farm | DIY Garden Projects | Gardening Australia

Worms are amazing creatures, eating our food scraps and transforming them into some of the best plant fertiliser known to gardeners.
One way to host some worms in smaller spaces is by using discarded polystyrene boxes from the green grocers.
It’s a cheap, easy way to build a worm farm that will fit in the smallest of gardens.
Worms need cool, moist, dark spaces so planning a sheltered spot out of direct sun for your worm farm is important. Yu can even keep them indoors!
You'll need:
2 or 3 polystyrene fruit boxes without holes plus 2 lids (ones that are the same size so they can be stacked)
A screwdriver
A small length of garden hose or a tap to drain the worm leachate
Newspaper
Shade cloth or flywire offcut (large enough to cover the bottom box)
Some well-rotted compost or manure
Compost worms
An old coffee bag/piece of hessian if available, or more newspaper
Food scraps
What you do:
STEP 1.   Grab your polystyrene fruit boxes (You can prolong the life of the boxes by painting them with a water-based paint - this stops chooks pecking them too!).
STEP 2.   Punch some holes in the bottom of one of the boxes with a screwdriver.  This will become the “top box” in the worm farm, where the worms live.  Line the inside base of this box with the shade cloth or insect screening, to stop the worms falling through the holes.
STEP 3.   In the box without holes (the bottom box), punch a single hole at the bottom of one end, as close to the base as possible, to insert a small length of garden hose or a tap to collect the worm leachate. Put the ‘home’ box (with holes in the base) on top of the ‘wet’ box, and you’re half way there!
STEP 4.  Add the bedding material (shredded newspaper plus aged compost or manure) into the top box and lightly dampen the contents.  The box should be about ¼ full of the bedding material.
STEP 5. Buy/borrow some worms; 1,000 worms is ideal for a DIY worm farm.  Pop them in the top box, they will soon wriggle down into the bedding.
STEP 6. Cover the worm bed with a thick layer of newspaper or a piece of hessian to help maintain a constant temperature and moisture level in the bedding material. Put the lid of the box on the top.
Feeding:
Let the worms settle for a couple of days, then add some food waste to a small area of the top box, under the hessian.  This could include:
•Kitchen scraps (fruit and veg, avoid citrus and onion and no meat or dairy),
•Grass clippings (not too much),
•Autumn leaves (small amounts)
•Hair clippings and vacuum cleaner dust
•Crushed egg shells (excellent to help maintain the pH of the bedding and provide grit that aids worms’ digestion)
•Aged manures
Worms don’t have teeth so chopping up the food beforehand helps them eat it and makes it less likely it will sit around and get smelly.
Ongoing maintenance:
Keep an eye on their appetite as they grow and breed; if you find there is a lot of food left a week after feeding, you've given them too much; if it's all gone in 2-3 days they need more! The #1 trap for new worm farmers is overfeeding, so check them often until you get a feel for their needs. And don’t overdo any one item.
After a couple of weeks your worms should start producing worm leachate - you can siphon this off from the tap or, if you have garden hose, just keep a container underneath to collect it. It’s potent, so dilute it before using on the garden; garden - it should be the colour of beer or weak tea.
Keep an eye on the moisture of the worm bedding - it should be moist like a wrung-out sponge but not soaking. If ants appear in your bin, you know it’s too dry.
If really hot weather is forecast, consider moving your worm farm to deeper shade or putting an ice block in the top box to keep them cool.
One way to collect your castings, remove the lid and pile up the castings into a dome, exposing it to sunlight. The worms will naturally move down out of the light after an hour or so, then you can scoop out the castings (checking for any leftovers) and spread this on your garden - use sparingly as it’s powerful stuff.
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[@BabyBodyBabyHead]

I've never seen this guy before but I gotta say I love his look. Like a fantasy character who might live in a hollow tree and commands plants and vines. Very nature looking.

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Hi Costa, I've kept a Pot-O-Worms since 2009 just off my kitchen. They are kept very clean and Happy. No smell or flies. I'm in Windermere ,Florida zone 9b. Since they are so close by it's convenient to add a few strawberry tops, cut up banana peel, ground Eggshells, etc. I think it's a great system and it came from Australia!

[@rumplespliffskin]

You're the man Costa

[@richgarden]

Just got 500 worms and I knew gardening Australia would have something for me .

[@gouthammohan1053]

Love from INDIA ❤️ Love your videos Costa💯 inspirational

[@btceth9409]

Good day 😊 this channel brings the best garden videos 🙏

[@GardeningAustralia]

Thank you!

[@haleyheavenhill7680]

Very very clear and great ideas!! Thank you so much!!

[@alanshrimpton6787]

I just have a commercial single layer directly on the ground. Worms can get down to ground level if too warm and come back up when wet. They don't leave. Too much food for them. It's worked for a few years now. Sits under my plum tree and it's loving any liquid directly leaking into the ground.

[@BongSnay007]

Love everyone here. Be safe and healthy!!

[@Blackheathenly]

Weird.

[@-opus]

@@Blackheathenly just spamming their channel

[@beelover2827]

I needed this

[@rumplespliffskin]

They probably don't want to say it but Bunnings sells the worms by the 500 or 1000. I got mine from there a fortnight ago and they're loving it.

[@Blackheathenly]

They can't say it. It's the ABC and they're not meant to advertise or plug commercial products or suppliers.

[@ismu34]

@@Blackheathenly I wonder how common small local suppliers are

[@TheWeedyGarden]

Good energy Costa. Be fun to have you on my chnnel one day. You up to that?

[@ianwatson8660]

Great show but can you do a segment on harvesting worm castings.

[@tessstokes2142]

thanks legend

[@panosdimi4713]

ευχαριστω ρε πατριοτη \

[@-opus]

The worms in my garden are mobile, they go wherever they want to, they have their own lives to lead.

[@tardis_master4888]

mmmmmmm worms go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[@larainebentley1546]

Aren't there worms in the dining room part that you spread around the garden. I got a bit lost

[@Johnny_Benson]

Clearly 1 person missed the like button

[@VanNguyen-ip3so]

Many worm farmers said leachate is not beneficial for your garden. It is not the same worm tea. What do you think?

[@DE2borknot2b]

Van Nguyen -- I have a 3 tier worm bin. Used it for 6+ years (sold home & currently not using) & watered my indoor plants, my veggies in the garden & trees & flowers around my home. It helped with powderery mildew & all my plants/flowers/veggies thrived when I watered them with a weak worm pee. I'm not sure what farmers are making that claim but I had great results.

[@martysgarden]

works a treat, using it for years!

[@lesliedevlin8501]

Great show did not have a good time growing tomatoes no need Les Perth😭😭😭👀👀👀🤔🤔🤔

[@quintinturner9961]

Question. I heard that print press went away from carbon ink to graphine ink that isn't good for worms. True or false?

[@cardiggery8]

What happens if you get some of your blood worms in your garden while cleaning..

[@wordofjahislove4177]

What they use the worm for??

[@Blackheathenly]

Soil health. And the worm castings.

[@sampathgamage16]

🇱🇰♥️

[@gavinmatthews5618]

Worst idea ever!!! It breaks down and gets everywhere.

[@Blackheathenly]

I find styrafoam makes things warm, rather than cool.

[@-opus]

Styrofoam is gross, should be banned.

[@ninapogorzelska6237]

He is so scary

[@ninapogorzelska6237]

He is bloody so scary, that why I do not want to watch it

[@Blackheathenly]

Oh and you seem so charming.