Worm farm

Mark Rayner shows how to make your own worm farm.

You will need: plastic stackable boxes, plastic drum tap, brass or plastic nut back, drill with 3mm, 10mm and 25mm drill bits, sandpaper and paint brush, piece of untreated plywood, piece of weed block fabric, watering can with water, Resene Quick Dry, Resene Lumbersider, tinted to Resene Bathurst, Aged compost and moist shredded newspaper. Red or tiger worms.

How to keep your worm farm working
Top up the upper box every few days with food scraps and compostable waste, adding water trom time to time to prevent the contents from drying out. A piece of damp carpet under the lid will help retain moisture. When the box is full, put the fourth box on top, adding a few food scraps with compost - the worms will move to this box. After a few months, you can harvest the worm castings in the middle box. The liquid in the lowest box can be used diluted as plant food any time. Top tip: Put your worm farm in a shady spot to prevent it overheating in warm weather.

Step one
Drill a 25mm hole in the side of one of the plastic boxes near the base, as shown

Step two
Smooth rough edges with sandpaper.

Step three
Push the tap through the hole, as shown, and fix from behind with the brass nut back.

Step four
Drill 10mm drainage holes in the bases of two of the other boxes, as shown.

Step five
Drill a series of vertical rows of three 3mm aeration holes in the side of the two boxes with drainage holes, as shown. Then place the undrilled box upside down and stand the box with the tap on top of it. Place a box with drilled drainage holes on top of that.

Step six
Half fill the top box with a mixture of aged compost and moist shredded newspaper. Then place a small handful of worms into the mixture. Don't put in too many - they breed and grow. Water lightly and place the piece of weed block fabric on top.
Prime the piece of plywood with Resene Quick Dry and allow to dry.

Step seven
Paint the piece of plywood with two coats of Resene Bathurst, allowing two hours for each coat to dry. Place the plywood on top of the worm farm over the black plastic.

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