So that probably sounds really wrong and is something you think I shouldn't let the blogosphere know. But seriously I have worms!
Ok, not the sort that a dose of medication will fix.
I have compost worms! There, that does sound better.
500 live wriggling compost worms. Not many I know, but money is a bit tight and that many is all I can afford right now. If I have to I may get another 500 in a couple of months.
Apparently there are eggs in with them and I have heard/read that worms breed quite quickly, so maybe I won't have to but more.
For the moment they are happily (I hope) in their new home. I have laid down some newspaper and some paper that I sprinkled water onto to make it moist. I also added a thin-ish payer of potting mix for them to spread out into. They also have a blankie to keep them warm and in the dark. Though I spose the lid on the plastic tub will do that job.
I am going to let them settle in for the day and give them their first 'meal' later today after I have cut up veges for our dinner.
I love new pets....
The other day I planted out some small potatoes that were left over from last year that were too small to cook and eat. I noticed today that I have 2 spud plants that have self sown from the compost/soil/straw mix that I tipped out into the pansy bed - this mix was what I used to grow spuds in last year. It will be interesting to see what happens with these. I must remember to pile up some dirt/manure/straw around them.
Today I put out some carrot seeds - for want of a better word for it. These are Heirloom Carrots and apparently are different colours - purple, yellow, white as well as the usual orange. They are in with the first lot of beans.
I also got 2 trough pots and planted out some Sweet Peas - just for a bit of extra colour.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Vege bed numbers 5 and 6
Earlier this week I filled up one bed with compost, manure and soil. I also got 4 circular frames for $5 each - I thought was a good bargain.
Bed #5 has 2 frames in it on the south side closest to the cars and I have put in some bean seeds around them. The rest of the bed will get carrot seeds. I'd show you a pic but we all know what dirt looks like, don't we.
I have some left over potatoes from last year that were really too small to cook. I will put these in with the capsicums. Hopefully they will do their thing and give me some bigger spuds.
I have noticed that birds are loving the damp soil and are scratching the straw all over the place. A couple of peas have been eaten and so has 1 more capsicum. I found a slime trail so the culprit is snails. I know exactly how to fix them - bait. I thought the last lot of bait I put out would have done the trick.
The weather here has been cold and wet this week. Great for the garden as I don't have to water, but it means I have less chance of getting bed #6 filled. Early next week is supposed to be dry so I should be able to do it then.
Bed #5 has 2 frames in it on the south side closest to the cars and I have put in some bean seeds around them. The rest of the bed will get carrot seeds. I'd show you a pic but we all know what dirt looks like, don't we.
I have some left over potatoes from last year that were really too small to cook. I will put these in with the capsicums. Hopefully they will do their thing and give me some bigger spuds.
I have noticed that birds are loving the damp soil and are scratching the straw all over the place. A couple of peas have been eaten and so has 1 more capsicum. I found a slime trail so the culprit is snails. I know exactly how to fix them - bait. I thought the last lot of bait I put out would have done the trick.
The weather here has been cold and wet this week. Great for the garden as I don't have to water, but it means I have less chance of getting bed #6 filled. Early next week is supposed to be dry so I should be able to do it then.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Vege Patch
I have just renewed my membership to The Diggers Club for the next 5 years. They are a plant catalogue mob here in Victoria. They have a house and garden with restaurant that you can visit, eat in, look around the yard, buy seeds/plants.
I also bought from them 3 lots of different bean seeds, some heirloom carrot seeds and some pink flower seeds. The flowers will go in the main front garden beds and should self seed each year. Years ago I had the same variety but in blue and it kept coming up for years afterwards - in all sorts of spots too.
In looking at my current vege beds the pea seedlings I put in are doing nicely. I have added some marigolds in amongst them. I have no idea if they will be helpful to the peas. They will probably be swamped by them and kark it.
I also planted out 3 Grosse Lisse Tomatoes - bought these from my local supermarket for $1 each (they were trying to get rid of them. I also put some marigolds with them too. These have all been planted in amongst the pansies. Hopefully the pansies will give them a bit of protection until they get going.
The capsicum (bell pepper) plants seems to be getting eaten by something. I have lost 1 that I know of. I don't think it is snails - the bed they are in is heavily mulched with straw and has no overhanging vegetation in which they could hide. Will have to keep any eye on them.
Did I tell you that I have finished mulching all around the 6 vege beds?? I think it looks quite good - nice and neat and tidy - at least for the moment.
I also bought from them 3 lots of different bean seeds, some heirloom carrot seeds and some pink flower seeds. The flowers will go in the main front garden beds and should self seed each year. Years ago I had the same variety but in blue and it kept coming up for years afterwards - in all sorts of spots too.
In looking at my current vege beds the pea seedlings I put in are doing nicely. I have added some marigolds in amongst them. I have no idea if they will be helpful to the peas. They will probably be swamped by them and kark it.
The capsicum (bell pepper) plants seems to be getting eaten by something. I have lost 1 that I know of. I don't think it is snails - the bed they are in is heavily mulched with straw and has no overhanging vegetation in which they could hide. Will have to keep any eye on them.
Did I tell you that I have finished mulching all around the 6 vege beds?? I think it looks quite good - nice and neat and tidy - at least for the moment.
The paler coloured mulch is euci mulch, the darker mulch is fine pine bark mulch. I went with this one for the rest of the area due to the cost - the pine was a good $1.50 cheaper per bag than the euci and it seem to spread further and thicker too.
Monday, September 02, 2013
New Vege beds
Yesterday was Father's Day. I managed to get hubby to mow the grass - he's not really into celebrations of any kind. Birthdays, anniversary's, you name it he basically don't care.
Whilst mowing the grass of the front lawn, he also removed all the grass around the 4 vege beds I have out there. I asked him to do this over Easter - took him this long to get around to it. He cut it down to the dirt - which is good; but he removed the mulch I had around 1 bed - which is not good. I really don't understand why he does things like that.
I got up this morning and put together the 2 new vege bed frames I bought on Saturday. Cut my finger in the process. They got put in place and then I set up the garden edging I bought a while ago to define my vege garden area and the car parking. Went to the garden centre and bought some mulch and some sugar cane straw.
The new beds got cardboard and paper on the bottom and that is covered with the straw. I have spread what mulch I bought around these and half way around the next 2 beds. I need to go buy about 6 more bags of mulch to finish off the job. That's on the agenda for tomorrow.
I think the car needs to be moved back a bit too.
On Saturday I also bought some vege seedlings and put them in - peas and capsicum. So far the birds haven't dug them out.
You can just see the peas in the back left hand bed around the frames and if you look real close you can see the capsicum in the far right bed. This is now full all the way across and mulched with straw. Need to decide on what I am going to plant in that half. I did spy a vacant part of the main front garden bed that could be a good spot for pumpkins........
Whilst mowing the grass of the front lawn, he also removed all the grass around the 4 vege beds I have out there. I asked him to do this over Easter - took him this long to get around to it. He cut it down to the dirt - which is good; but he removed the mulch I had around 1 bed - which is not good. I really don't understand why he does things like that.
I got up this morning and put together the 2 new vege bed frames I bought on Saturday. Cut my finger in the process. They got put in place and then I set up the garden edging I bought a while ago to define my vege garden area and the car parking. Went to the garden centre and bought some mulch and some sugar cane straw.
The new beds got cardboard and paper on the bottom and that is covered with the straw. I have spread what mulch I bought around these and half way around the next 2 beds. I need to go buy about 6 more bags of mulch to finish off the job. That's on the agenda for tomorrow.
I think the car needs to be moved back a bit too.
On Saturday I also bought some vege seedlings and put them in - peas and capsicum. So far the birds haven't dug them out.
You can just see the peas in the back left hand bed around the frames and if you look real close you can see the capsicum in the far right bed. This is now full all the way across and mulched with straw. Need to decide on what I am going to plant in that half. I did spy a vacant part of the main front garden bed that could be a good spot for pumpkins........
Making of a Worm Farm
This is how I have put together my worm farm. It takes a couple of different ideas and sort of mashes them together. Time will tell if it works or not. I see no reason why it shouldn't.
Materials used:
1 large polystyrene box - lid discarded
2 black plastic tubs with lids - only 1 lid is needed, but keep the other one in case the first one gets ruined.
2 empty plastic milk bottles - I am using 2 litre ones.
Scissors
Pencil
Bricks - at least 5, probably a couple more would be better.
A Shady area for it to live in - worms living in plastic don't cope well with heat so shade will help stop them from being cooked.
Some compost
Some shredded newspaper
Worms - I bought mine from a garden supplier
A bit of old carpet or some hessian or anything that is organic and thick - to keep the worms warm - I am using a mat they sell for this purpose.
Drill and drill bit - this is used to put holes in the bottom of the plastic tubs.
What I did:
Take the large poly box and prop it up on some bricks.
Take 2 x 2 litre milk bottles and cut off 1 side leaving the handle, the lid and the bottom. This goes under the poly box to catch the liquid that should drip out.
Mark bottom of poly box where the milk bottles are to sit....
Poke holes in marked area with a pencil or drill bit or stick. You can just see the holes here.
Sit a couple of more bricks inside the poly box. These will prop up your black plastic tubs which house the worms.
Drill around 12 holes in the bottom of both plastic tubs that are large enough for worms to get thru, yet small enough that the resultant compost (worm castings) doesn't fall thru. I started to use one about the thickness of a pencil but ended up using a metal skewer that I heated up on the gas stove to poke the holes into the base.
Place 1 tub in the poly box on top of the bricks. Put some compost in it and top it with some shredded newspaper. Give it a light spray with some water. I have used some compost and some weeds and some leave litter we had swept up in the carport.
Add in your worms and then put in your first lot of food for the worms. Cover with the mat and put on the lid. I have yet to get my new 'pets'.
The second black tub will be used once the first one gets half full. They are 55 litre tubs and will get quite heavy if they get too full of castings. Once the first one if half full I will put the second tub on top of the first one - take lid off, sit tub on top of the castings/worms - add food to new tub and cover with the mat. The worms should move into the new tub after awhile. How long that will be, I have no idea. The old castings can just sit there until I think all the worms are in the new tub.
It will look like this once both tubs are stacked and in use, though I will be putting 1 lid aside in case the other one gets ruined with use.
The idea of the lid is to stop any vermin from getting in and eating the worms food. It will also help retain heat and moisture. I hope air can get in as I imagine these tubs are not air tight. No one I have looked up on the internet seems to have air for their worms as a concern when they use plastic tubs. Yet the pre-made worm farms both (there's only 2 available locally) state that their lids are vented.
I have 1 concern with this set up - and that is that the poly box will not hold the weight of the other tubs once they get full. I imagine castings weigh a fair bit.
It will be interesting to see how long the black tubs last for as they are not UV stabilised plastic. They cost me $6 each. To buy a worm farm from the local hardware store would cost at least $67 - my set up cost me $12 (I already had the poly box and the milk bottles).
So that's it - my worm farm. I will keep you posted on how it is all going.
Materials used:
1 large polystyrene box - lid discarded
2 black plastic tubs with lids - only 1 lid is needed, but keep the other one in case the first one gets ruined.
2 empty plastic milk bottles - I am using 2 litre ones.
Scissors
Pencil
Bricks - at least 5, probably a couple more would be better.
A Shady area for it to live in - worms living in plastic don't cope well with heat so shade will help stop them from being cooked.
Some compost
Some shredded newspaper
Worms - I bought mine from a garden supplier
A bit of old carpet or some hessian or anything that is organic and thick - to keep the worms warm - I am using a mat they sell for this purpose.
Drill and drill bit - this is used to put holes in the bottom of the plastic tubs.
What I did:
Take the large poly box and prop it up on some bricks.
Take 2 x 2 litre milk bottles and cut off 1 side leaving the handle, the lid and the bottom. This goes under the poly box to catch the liquid that should drip out.
Mark bottom of poly box where the milk bottles are to sit....
Poke holes in marked area with a pencil or drill bit or stick. You can just see the holes here.
Sit a couple of more bricks inside the poly box. These will prop up your black plastic tubs which house the worms.
Drill around 12 holes in the bottom of both plastic tubs that are large enough for worms to get thru, yet small enough that the resultant compost (worm castings) doesn't fall thru. I started to use one about the thickness of a pencil but ended up using a metal skewer that I heated up on the gas stove to poke the holes into the base.
Place 1 tub in the poly box on top of the bricks. Put some compost in it and top it with some shredded newspaper. Give it a light spray with some water. I have used some compost and some weeds and some leave litter we had swept up in the carport.
Add in your worms and then put in your first lot of food for the worms. Cover with the mat and put on the lid. I have yet to get my new 'pets'.
The second black tub will be used once the first one gets half full. They are 55 litre tubs and will get quite heavy if they get too full of castings. Once the first one if half full I will put the second tub on top of the first one - take lid off, sit tub on top of the castings/worms - add food to new tub and cover with the mat. The worms should move into the new tub after awhile. How long that will be, I have no idea. The old castings can just sit there until I think all the worms are in the new tub.
It will look like this once both tubs are stacked and in use, though I will be putting 1 lid aside in case the other one gets ruined with use.
The idea of the lid is to stop any vermin from getting in and eating the worms food. It will also help retain heat and moisture. I hope air can get in as I imagine these tubs are not air tight. No one I have looked up on the internet seems to have air for their worms as a concern when they use plastic tubs. Yet the pre-made worm farms both (there's only 2 available locally) state that their lids are vented.
I have 1 concern with this set up - and that is that the poly box will not hold the weight of the other tubs once they get full. I imagine castings weigh a fair bit.
It will be interesting to see how long the black tubs last for as they are not UV stabilised plastic. They cost me $6 each. To buy a worm farm from the local hardware store would cost at least $67 - my set up cost me $12 (I already had the poly box and the milk bottles).
So that's it - my worm farm. I will keep you posted on how it is all going.
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