Composting and Worm Farming

Garden waste and food scraps make up about 50-60% of household waste. Worm farming and composting are simple ways to reduce waste by turning it into fertilisers and to reduce contamination of groundwater from landfills.

	Choose a site that is shaded in summer so the compost doesn't dry out.
	Start with a 10-15cm layer of twigs and dry leaves.
	Add material to compost in layer of rich materials (food scraps and manure) with poor materials (twigs, leaves, grass clippings).
	Moisten dry layers as they are added (old tead or coffee liquid is good and saves water), so that the compost is moist, but not wet.
	To avoid the compost smelling turn it with a garden fork every 2-3 weeks.
	Sprinkle a layer of soil, lime, wood ash or finished compost layered on top of food scraps will make richer compost and help minimise odours.

For more information call the Compost Hotline on 1300 78 78 70, visit Resource NSW or contact Council's Waste Projects Officer on 9716 1921.

Wormfarming

Worm farms are a great way to compost for people living in units because they don't smell, so they can be kept inside or on a balcony.

An advantage of worm farming is that it produces excellent liquid fertiliser for your garden/plants, which is high in nutrients.

How the Worm Farm Works

Worm farms consist of two or three trays. The bottom tray collects liquid fertiliser, which is high in nutrients. Dilute at least 50/50 and use on plants. The top tray is the working tray. Worms eat food and garden waste and leave rich castings = high quality soil.

Making Your Own Worm Farm

What You Need

	2 broccoli boxes from supermarket or fruit store. Some stores will give them free, some charge $0.50-$2.00. Worm farms can also be made from wooden boxes.
	Forks, pens or something to punch holes
	Newspaper
	Drink bottle with top cut off, brick or ice-cream container
	Compost or potting mix
	Worms – redworms or tigerworms, not worms from your garden!

You will need at least 1000 worms to start. The more you have the more food your worms will eat and the quicker they will multiply!

Building Your Worm Farm

Maintenance:

	Place food under newspaper.
	Worms will eat a very small amount at first, but as they multiply they will eat a lot more.
	Worms eat: - fruit and vegetable scraps (only small amounts of citrus, garlic, onion)
	tea/coffee
	egg shells
	wet paper
	vacuum cleaner dust
	hair
	leaves, grass, flowers
	cotton clothes eg old socks etc

Worms don't eat:

	meat
	dairy products
	oils

Best kept in shade, indoors or outdoors

Worm farms should be kept moist but not wet. If dry pour some water over farm. Worm farms shouldn't smell. If it does you are probably feeding your worms too much or it is too wet. Add some dry shredded newspaper.

Worm Facts

	Worms eat half their body weight a day. 1000 worms weigh 250grams.
	Worms are hermaphrodites, but need two worms to mate. One egg has 2-20 worms inside.
	Worms will double in number every 2 or 3 months. Maximum capacity of worm farms is 12000-20000 worms.
	Worms multiply in number to the size of the worm farm so it will never be overpopulated.

Worm castings /liquid

Once the top tray is full you will need to remove the castings.
There a three options:

Option 1: Start a third box. Punch holes big enough so the worms can move from the middle box to the top box. This top box will now be your working box, where you will feed the worms.

Option 2: Scrape the top layer of castings, then wait around 5-10 minutes for the worms to hide from the light in the soil. Continue to scrape the castings and wait for the worms to crawl down.

Option 3: Stop feeding the worm farm for 2 weeks. Then place a line of food scraps at one end of the box. The worms will move to the food and after 1 week it will be possible to scrape out the majority of their castings without removing your worms.

	Use the castings (soil) as a potting mix - add 10-20% castings to a poor potting mix.
	The liquid can be diluted 50/50 with water and used on your pot plants

For further information visit Resource NSW or contact Council's Waste Projects Officer on 9716 1921.