Wormly Does It!

All plants in this project receive their nutrients from our organic household waste.  Our wormery or vermicomposter, depending on where you come from, is essentially a house for lots and lots of worms!

I was introduced to this composting method by Wayne Teel, who was lecturing the SERM/ISAT course in Malta at the time.  Wayne's knowledge was a fundamental addition to my present appreciation for all things sustainable and natural.

The first lot of worms was kindly donated by a friend, Brian.  They have now multiplied to a huge number.  The structure was constructed by Nannu (this is what we call our grandfathers in Malta).  All of our organic kitchen waste goes into the top of the structure where it is consumed by the population of worms residing within.  The worms egest the material in a finer form and this makes for a natural way of recycling the nutrients in our organic waste and passing them on to plants in the garden.  Vermicomposting in this way is quicker than thermal composting.  Another plus is that there is absolutely NO smell from the waste.

Nannu constructed the wormery which now stands in the small shaft in the middle of our house.

 

The blue basin at the bottom collects fine material that passes through the four compartments above.  The little bucket collects liquid that drains out of the entire system.  Both material from the blue basin and liquid from the bucket are used to provide nutrients to the plants.