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Recycling your kitchen waste helps to reduce the carbon footprint of your household and creates rich nutrients to maximise the health of your garden.
But as the temperature decreases our soil-making friends, the composting earthworms, become less active. Ensure worms stay healthy over the cooler months by feeding them appropriately and keeping them warm.
Feed and condition your worm farm
Composting earthworms like a temperature range in the soil, or their bedding, of between 18 and 25 degrees Celcius, and the cool autumn weather will decrease their food intake.
During autumn and winter, ensure that you still feed your worms regularly with a big variety of household food scraps, chopped up well.
The slower activity of the worms in cooler weather however, means that there is more risk of overfeeding your worms. Any excess food the worms cannot process can decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and this can produce excess acids.
To help neutralise acids, add a small sprinkling of the alkalising Tumbleweed Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner each week.
Encourage root growth
As the weather cools down, plants also begin to slow down their leaf growth. Many perennial plants, such as fruit trees and herbs, will develop their root systems at this time, to help them stabilise and survive during the colder months of winter.
Autumn is a wonderful time to strengthen and nourish your plants with a good dose of both worm juice and rich worm castings.
To use worm juice, water it down to the colour of weak tea and use it as a soil drench around the drip line of your plants.
Autumn is also a good time to spray the foliage of your plants with worm juice. Consider adding some liquid seaweed and fish product to your worm juice spray at half the recommended strength.
To use the casting, carefully remove small amounts from the lowest working tray in your worm farms. Dig in the castings in small amounts around the drip line of your fruit trees and herbs to provide essential nutrients.
Position a container under the tap of your worm farm and turn it to extract worm juice.
Keep worms warm
Consider moving your worm farm to a place where it will be a little warmer. Perhaps a bit more morning sun, or into your garage or a place where it is more sheltered with an even temperature.
Autumn may be the time to purchase a new Worm Blanket for the surface of the feeding tray. This will help ‘buffer’ the low temperatures on cold nights.
Tumbleweed worm farm and composting products are available at your local Bunnings Warehouse.
For more information on Tumbleweed products, call 1800 809 088 or visit www.tumbleweed.com.au