In another part of the Vine I have mentioned that I made a Wormery and now play Zookeeper to a few worms. I must admit that I cobbled together the information from various parts of the Internet before delving into my existing compost bin to get my worms for setting up my wormery.
Normally I read a book before starting most things in the garden. This time, however I approached things in the opposite manner. A month or so ago I finally decided to part with a little money and bought a book to confirm or not if I had done every thing correctly.
The book I chose was not too surprisingly called “The Worm Book”. It is an American book by authors Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor. I wasn’t quite sure why all books on worms came from the United States, until I started to read the book. I found out that during the last Ice Age all worms in the Americas were wiped out and now only to be found in the rock strata with other fossils. Worms in the USA are a modern novelty, introduced by Europeans. The worms were first travelled to the US in the pots of earth that the settlers used to transport plants and herbs they had known, grown and used in their old homelands.
Farmers and Gardeners noticed that for some reason plants seemed to thrive better in the city gardens surrounding ports and docks. Investigation found that worms were only to be found in these places. Soon worms were being introduced to other parts of the US in an attempt to improve crop production. Still to this day a lot of America does not have any worm populations. When the term Black Gold was coined for vermicompost they were not far from the truth.
Here in the UK we take worms for granted as they normally are found in abundance. As Children we come across worms at an early age. Most mothers do their best to stop their children from eating them.
“The Worm Book” explains in very simple terms the biology and other scientific information regarding soil improvement when using worms to do all the work. The Authors tell you how to build a wormery, how worm composting works and how to use the vermicompost (Poo) that is your end product. For all those folk who wonder what the worms taste like the authors also include resources and recipes on how to cook with worms.
Worms will turn your kitchen waste into the richest and finest compost you could ever hope to get your hands on. Every day worms eat half their body weight in kitchen scraps. Vermicompost is an organic long-term fertiliser and soil improper that you can’t afford to miss out on. Vermicompost can be used in your garden and for pot plants in your home.
All in all I found the book to be a fun and educational book that is well worth buying if you are thinking about starting your own wormery. The book details can be found at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...951932-7027063
If you get the worm book I hope you enjoy. Happy zoo keeping
Jax