Building a Half-Drum Wormery

Build this half-drum wormery for next to nothing.

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	1. Obtain a drum, cut it in half and smooth the edges. We used a 130litre food-grade drum. We had bought it a few years ago via an advertisement in the Quokka.
	2. Insert a drain near the base of the half-drum. The drain (UPC 9414940010943) is a long hollow plastic 15mm bolt. On the bolt is a nut (for the outside of the drum) and two large rubber washers to make the seal watertight. The whole unit can be bought from a hardware store for around AU$8. A 22mm hole was drilled for the drain approximately 8cm from the bottom of the half-drum.
	3. Add a tap to the drain. At the end of the drain bolt, a 90° connector (UPC 9310317310961) links the drainage bolt to 13mm polyurethane hose (aka polypipe). A 10cm section of hose joins the connector to a tap (UPC 9310317311012) that will control outflow of liquid from the wormery.
	4. Line the bottom of the wormery with gravel or equivalent to stop the bedding blocking the outflow. We didn't have suitably sized gravel to line the bottom of the wormery. Instead we chose to use gumnuts because their size is just right, and we have them in profusion. We added enough to cover the drain by a few centimetres.
	5. Add course vegetable matter to form a barrier between the gravel/gumnuts and the main bedding. We used a layer of sweeepings from behind the house. This largely mean gumleaves with other asssorted green (non-gum) leaf matter.
	6. Cover this with soaked shreded newspaper. The newspapers were shredded in a mulcher then soaked for an hour. Worms just love wet shreded paper and cardboard. This layer, like the sweepings, is just a few centimetres deep.
	7. Add a few centimetres of soil. The final layer in this stage of preparation was soil. We used soil swept up from nooks around the yard where leaves had composted to dirt. The soil was spread evenly over the mulched newspaper. Once again, the depth was just a couple of centimetres. The idea is to provide an earthy basis for the worm activity.
	8. Introduce the worms to their new home. We split the population of an established wormfarm in order to seed the new wormery. We moved around half the worms to the new colony, spreading them evenly on the surface. They immediately started burrowing into their new home.
	9. Add another layer of soaked shredded newspaper. Consider it a house-warming present to the worms.
	10. Add another layer of soil. The soil limits the evaporation from the paper, and effectively seals the bedding.
	11. Water the bedding in. The soil was a bit dry, so we gave it a substantial but gentle watering using the watering can. Worms like moist soil, and it also helps to keep the wormery cool.
	12. Seal the top of the wormery with a breathable lid. We folded an old sheet and spread it over the open top of the wormery. A clamping hoop from the top of an old 205 litre (aka 44 gallon) steel drum held it down. This fit perfectly, and it secures the cloth firmly over the top of the half-drum. Keeping the cloth moist turns it into an evaporative cooling system for the worms.