Hi all,
Just wanted to share my worm farm, made from and old esky that was sadly broken a few years ago. As I was generating more green waste that my worms and compost containers could handle I decided to increase my worm farm capacity by using this old esky and a few scrap materials from my garden.
I set it up next to my old worm farm, in a shady spot at the back of our block.
As you can see, the esky has seen better days
I levelled the esky on top of a few old milk crates. It does have a slight slope to the hole. I made sure to flood test, then dribble test to make sure that the worm tea will end up in the bucket
Flood Test:
Dribble Test:
I added in some old garden stakes and then some seed trays (forgot to photograph that sorry) to allow free drainage and air flow.
I had some very old and dead shadecloth left by the last owner that I used as a filter layer.
Apologies about sideways picture
I added some shredded paper and watered to make damp.
Then a few shovels of compot and manure mix (home grown of course)
Convinced some worms to move into the new worm farm from the old worm farm
Added a layer of cardboard to make the space dark for the worms as I am fresh out of heshion sacks at the moment.
Added the old broken lid back on the top. I left the clips up, to allow about 5mm breathing gap at the top of the esky. I can close this down if I find things dry out too much.
All in all it took about 45 minutes to make... mostly delayed by going to wash my hands to take photos.
I will hold off adding fresh food for the worms for about a week until they are settled. Then I will post more updates as things progress.
As always, happy for feedback on improvements.
Best thing about this little project was that everything was recycled or reclaimed. Cost $0
Just wanted to share my worm farm, made from and old esky that was sadly broken a few years ago. As I was generating more green waste that my worms and compost containers could handle I decided to increase my worm farm capacity by using this old esky and a few scrap materials from my garden.
I set it up next to my old worm farm, in a shady spot at the back of our block.
As you can see, the esky has seen better days
I levelled the esky on top of a few old milk crates. It does have a slight slope to the hole. I made sure to flood test, then dribble test to make sure that the worm tea will end up in the bucket
Flood Test:
Dribble Test:
I added in some old garden stakes and then some seed trays (forgot to photograph that sorry) to allow free drainage and air flow.
I had some very old and dead shadecloth left by the last owner that I used as a filter layer.
Apologies about sideways picture
I added some shredded paper and watered to make damp.
Then a few shovels of compot and manure mix (home grown of course)
Convinced some worms to move into the new worm farm from the old worm farm
Added a layer of cardboard to make the space dark for the worms as I am fresh out of heshion sacks at the moment.
Added the old broken lid back on the top. I left the clips up, to allow about 5mm breathing gap at the top of the esky. I can close this down if I find things dry out too much.
All in all it took about 45 minutes to make... mostly delayed by going to wash my hands to take photos.
I will hold off adding fresh food for the worms for about a week until they are settled. Then I will post more updates as things progress.
As always, happy for feedback on improvements.
Best thing about this little project was that everything was recycled or reclaimed. Cost $0
Attachments
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Farm 1 - Copy.jpg304.3 KB · Views: 459
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Farm 2 - Copy.jpg181.3 KB · Views: 446
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Farm 3 Flood Test - Copy.jpg187.4 KB · Views: 507
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Farm 4 Dribble test - Copy.jpg159.1 KB · Views: 490
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Farm 5 Drainage Layer 1 - Copy.jpg161.8 KB · Views: 469
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Farm 6 Filter Shade Cloth - Copy.jpg207.1 KB · Views: 445
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Farm 7 Wetted Paper - Copy.jpg230 KB · Views: 352
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Farm 8 Added Compost Manure Mix - Copy.jpg244.2 KB · Views: 350
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Farm 9 Donor Worms from old Farm - Copy.jpg426.6 KB · Views: 320
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Farm 10 Cardboard Dark Layer - Copy.jpg195.1 KB · Views: 359
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Farm 11 Lid sits on top - Copy.jpg263.2 KB · Views: 336
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