Compost Worms With Mr Bede Harold

This morning we had the pleasure of hearing 'all about worms' from Bede Harold. The man behind the sign on the way out to Emu Point. Bede has been one with the worms for 19 years now and could not emphasize enough the magic qualities of worm castings - affectionately referred to as 'black gold'.

"If you've got no worms you've got no garden, it's not going to be the garden you could have."

There are four varieties of worms used commercially in Australia - the Indian Blue, Red Wriggler, Tiger Worm and the Night Crawler. Bede mainly uses the Indian Blue and Red Wriggler as these are good for maintaining local stock in home gardens and can be used in worm farms and for fishing and feed.

Bede outlined some of the various uses for compost worms including worm toilets which are currently used in the eastern states, along with some interesting facts.

• Worms produce their own weight in water each day.
• They will self-reduce in size if there are too many in a restricted area.
• Worms will die if cut in half, dispelling the urban myth that it will create two worms.
• There can be around 4,000 worms to a kilo.
• Newspaper can be safely used to feed worms. Bede uses wet newspaper, coir peat and grass clippings as a base for new worm farms.

He also offered some tips to creating a better environment for your worms such as using a fork instead of a spade in the garden. Adding a sprinkle of lime over your worm bed from time to time and also gently pushing a stick into the worm beds to increase the air into the bed.