Go on a course: worm composting

"Do you have worms?" was the question put to me when I met the seven others on the Worm and Composting day at Wiggly Wigglers on Lower Blakemere Farm near Hereford.

They were, of course, talking about wormeries, which most of them had purchased from this environmentally aware mail-order company. Those who'd bought one had been inspired to find out more, but a few had grander plans: a worm farmer wanted to expand her business, while a green enthusiast was investigating ways to compost kitchen waste on a commercial scale.

Development manager Richard Fishbourne started by explaining why worms can help create rich garden soil and encourage a diverse range of wildlife, as the sights and sounds in the farm's wild flower meadow testified. As we sat down with coffee, biscuits and boxes containing several worm species, Richard explained the differences between them - it seemed that the key was to find the right worm for the job in hand. For Wiggly Wigglers' Can-O-Worms kitchen-waste composter, the most efficient recyclers, Eisenia andrei and Eisenia hortensis, are drafted in. They are content to multiply moderately in the confines of the composter and, not being deep-digging subsoil dwellers, are happy to live in the shallow tray system.

After lunch, we went on a tour of the farm to see how machinery and ploughing methods had been adapted to avoid disturbing the worm population; vermiculture is essential for improving aeration, drainage, fertility and the moisture-retentive properties of soil.
We learned that the worms need to be fed nice things, sheltered from rain and protected from the extremes of heat and pH - and in exchange they'll recycle your kitchen waste into compost better than anything you can buy. christine robinson

Worm and Composting at Wiggly Wigglers, Lower Blakemere Farm, Blakemere, Herefordshire. For information about other courses, call  0201 439 5248 or visit www.wigglywigglers.co.uk.

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