The Worm Works (Original Organics Composting Worm System) # 1

You may recall last Friday that I ordered and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Worm Works, composting system.
Yesterday by the time I got up at 7:30am this parcel had been left on my doorstep. You may wonder what prompted me to try this method of composting as opposed to going the traditional route. Well we tried that and as we don't have a very big garden it didn't really work, it was smelly and a rat found it very welcoming and set up home there. So after we got rid of the rat we also stopped using the compost bin. Worm composting seemed to be the answer so here I am giving it a try. It better work because the kit was quite expensive!
This is what was in the box to get me started. You can't see very well because of the reflection, but you get three bags of live Tiger worms, a coir brick (becomes bedding for the worms-sounds like they are to be pampered pets!), shredded newspaper, and a bag of lime mix (to reduce acidity and keep conditions sweet-egg shells apparently have the same affect).
All this would be no good without some instructions!
I chose to have the deluxe version which included a compost caddy and a book on composting with worms. It also gave me free posting and a guaranteed delivery date. Although I already had a compost caddy this one is slightly larger, and this offer actually worked out to be the best value for money.
The instructions were clear and I managed to put it together quite easily, and I was very keen to get the worms bedded down as quickly as possible.
It was fascinating to see the coir expanding before my eyes. I'm so glad I put it into a large mixing bowl, because it was completely full. After an hour I was able to wring out the excessive water (I put it onto newspaper) and add the other ingredients to make the worms bed. See below:

The lid has feeding instructions printed on it. I was quite worried reading that they get stressed and it my take them a while to settle. I decided to keep the wormery in the porch, but there is no heating and it was pretty cold last night, so my fear was it would drop below 5c. Now according to the instructions you leave them for three days and then check that there are worms around the food. Well curiosity got the better of me and I decided to peep under the lid this morning. Lo and behold there were worms crawling everywhere, as you can see below. What I don't understand is why they were not down where it was snug and warm and where the food was!


Original Organics the company in Devon who supplied this kit also included an extra little gift for me and a lovely little note saying they had seen my blog, so had sent me a bag for my collection-how cool is that! Or should I be worried that when I search the internet I can be so easily traced!Beccy loves these string bags for her vegetables so now I can try one out for myself. Thank you Original Organics.

So I now hope that the worms will thrive in their new environment.

Several of you have expressed an interest in my new obsession so I thought I might do the occasional update to let you know how I get on.

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2007: Don't you just love Garfield