Coppins Log
Coppins Date: January 2006
On this page we hope to share our thoughts on topics that affect Coppins but are separate from commercial activity. Perhaps we can share seasonal observations made by local gardeners, or gossip that reaches us from the trade. In this first entry, we would like to tell you about a new project where we have started to compost our own plant waste in the Coppins wormery.
For a long time we have spread plant waste on our wildlife area to slowly compost naturally. Recently, however, a local worm farm has helped us set up our own wormery so that the rich compost can then be used elsewhere as a soil improver. (It is important to note that, despite being called compost, the product is not suitable on its own for potting and, because it is not sterilised, it is safest used as an improver on the border.)
Our first wormery is approximately one cubic metre, built of timber and lined with landscape fabric. About 10cm of well composted material was placed in the bottom to provide a refuge for the worms and some delicious horse manure placed on top to get the wormery off to a good start. Everything has been covered with an insulating layer of bubblewrap and a carpet of felt to shield the light-shy worms.
Dendrobaena worms were introduced and left to their own devices for a fortnight before fresh material was added. The worms are very active, especially after dark and the fabric helps prevent escapees. If the wormery doesn't provide the comfort expected of the fussy Dendrobaena, they are quite capable of disappearing overnight!
Autumn has quickly filled the wormery with oakleaves, weeds and green prunings but the frosty weather has reduced worm activity. It will be interesting to see how the process speeds up in the spring but we suspect that a larger wormery will be needed to cope with the waste material we produce on a nursery of this size
We will let you know how things get on.
Happy Gardening - Jenny and Phil Renouf