We have a wormery in our garden which is a brilliant way of using kitchen waste to create super rich compost and liquid plant food. Normally there is very little that you need to do to keep the worms ticking over. Just make sure they've got a good supply of food that they like (ours don't like too much onion, orange peel or anything too strongly flavoured) and keep them in a sheltered position in the garden that doesn't get too hot, cold or wet. Dead easy you see?... Though of course we've had exceptionally cold weather over the last couple of nights that could prove a really threat to the health and well-being of our worms so we've had to carry out some evasive action to make sure that they're able to keep warm.
Firstly we moved the wormery up as close to the house as we could so that it benefits from any residual heat from the fabric of the building. This also means that it is now in the corner of the garden that gets the most winter sun so the worms will have the help of the sun to keep them warm and frost free for at least a couple of hours each day. We have also made sure that the worms have plenty of insulation within the wormery so we've added lots of nice fresh food and cardboard to make sure there are no opportunities for cold, icy spaces to form. Finally we have wrapped the whole wormery in a couple of old towels and plastic bags and topped it of with a waterproof cap to keep the whole thing as snug and dry as possible.
This may seem a slightly excessive endeavor on a freezing cold day but we love our wormery and want to do as much as we can to make sure that its residents make it through the winter. Here's hoping they'll be warm enough in their newly improved home.
Hope that your worms are ok ~ mine are in a shed but I have wrapped them up well enough I hope to get through yet another freezing spell.
Posted by: Anna | December 20, 2010 at 09:20 PM
Thanks for you comments guys. You'll be pleased to hear that the weather has now warmed up and the worms are fine. Phew! :-)
Posted by: Liz | December 12, 2010 at 10:13 AM
Awesome! Even though I'm old enough to have a teenage daughter, my mom won't let me keep composting worms while I'm living with her. I miss them!
Posted by: Eliza | December 02, 2010 at 02:00 AM
I'm sure they'll appreciate being nice and warm in this weather.
Posted by: Damo | November 29, 2010 at 08:55 PM
Snug as a bug in a....couple of towels. I'm sure your efforts will all be worth it when you're using that lovely rich compost next year.
Posted by: Jo | November 29, 2010 at 01:57 PM