wormery and kitchen crock advice please

[NappiesGalore]

...for a complete novice. (im from the concrete jungle me; know bugger all about nature, but am learning now i live in the country n all that)

SO - i want to compost kitchen waste to help out in my veggie growing attempts and also coz they only collect our bins once a fortnight round here and what with all the nappies... lets just say i need to compost kitchen waste.)

ANYWAYS have figured out that a wormery is the thing we need since its; fast, easy, foolproof and um, easy. (unless one of you knows better!!)
and something to collect the scraps etc in the kitchen, like a stone pot and lid or something.
so the advice i need is:

A - is this a good wormery option (as in the absolute easiest thing to use)

and B - where on earth do i get the kitchen pot thing??

TIA

try evergreener.co.uk i am sure they had kitchen bins/crock pots. not sure about wormaries though. we just have a compost bin...

thanks cece, will check it out.

btw - just how easy is your compost bin? does it require occasional digging over or sometrhing, b/c i feel sure i would neglect that and somehow cock up the composting process thus...

Where are you, Nappies? I've got a Wiggly Wigglers Can-O-Worms wormery that I'm looking to sell!

I'm in West Sussex.

But if you don't want a second hand one, Wiggly Wigglers are just fantastic for everything to do with composting, wormeries, kitchen crocks, bird-feeding etc!

I have never turned it or anything.... However not been here long enough to get anything out of it yet...

Ihave jsut bought a new compost bin from crocus. It is sitting in my hall waiting to be put together. The plan is to leave the one that came with the house and fill this new one up while the other is composting....

sounds a good plan to me cece (not that i know anything much!)

hi satine - im in hampshire, might be a bit far to collect the wormer, but thanks for the offer!
am looking at the wiggly wormers site but its not v easy to navigate... cant seem to find kitchen crocks or anything like it. any pointers there?

i have found this one which sounds good...

Lakeland have this or the slightly prettier (but more expensive) this . They also do replacement filters for them.

Ah - that second one is similar to the one you linked to Nappiesgalore - but I think a bit cheaper at Lakeland (though haven't checked postage costs).

I've got one like the cheaper one from Lakeland. Keep it just outside the back door.

crocus have one for 6.99 and you can get replacement filters (sorry can't do links)

thanks jackie. one of those will do the job, no doubt

just thought id post that i found another wormery much cheaper, in case anyones interested. here - wormcity

tHAT LOOKS GOOD. cAN YOU PUT COOKED WASTE FOOD IN THERE THOUGH? Does anyone know? Sorry about the Caps!

whoops found the answer in FAQ

YES PLEASE foods are (NB Foods written in italics should be feed in moderation)

All waste material should be broken into small scraps before being added to your worm composter and when feeding your worms it is important to feed them 'little and often' rather than giving them large quantities of food at once, as this can cause overheating and this can kill the worms.

Vegetables Onions Fruits Citrus Fruits Coffee Grinds Tea Bags Bread Pizza Crusts
Rice Pasta Flowers Cereals Crushed Eggshells Cakes Biscuits Brown Sugar
Cheese Cardboard Paper Pet / Human Hair Hoover Contents Baked Beans Spaghetti Pet Faeces (rabbit etc)

NO THANK YOU foods are

Meat Bones Pet Faeces (cat / dog) Garlic Spicy Foods (curry etc) Eggs
Dairy Products (milk, yoghurt, butter) Poisonous Plants Oils Salt Non- Biodegradable's Solvents
Insecticides / Pesticides Soaps Grass / Lawn Cuttings Paints

sorry to dampen everyone's enthusiasm, but I have never had any success with wormeries and goodness knows I've tried. the worms are quite fussy little blighters, they don't work in the cold, they don't eat that much. I may have one last try with my can-of-worms as the rats have finally found a way into my Johanna. Which never made compost either, mainly because it was fussy too (an inch of this, a spadeful of that, not too much of the other) but at least was ratproof.

Ho Hum.

I think wormeries need persistence - I abandoned my very small one, thinking I couldn't do it; then I got involved in the school's Can o'Worms, and seemed to get the hang of it. Now my little tiny one works fine, and produces gorgeous crumbly stuff. It IS slow, but it gets quicker once you and the worms get to know each other, especially their culinary preferences. They do work much faster in warm weather.

Hard to sum up the advice - I'd say success depends on experience/trial and error, as well as following all the advice from Wiggly Wigglers etc. There are quite a few threads on worm composting in the archives here if you do a search.

Hi Nappies! An expensive kitchen crock is not necessary. We use an old nappy pail with a lid (from Mothercare - original cost about £4. We have never had any smells coming from it. Once in a blue moon I give it a good wash! Why waste money?

I use a nappy pail, too But I keep it just outside the back door, and have a succession of smallish plastic punnets (that used to hold fruit) into which I put peelings, teabags etc. They get emptied and recycled daily/every couple of days.

Somebody mentioned having a can o worms that they wanted to get rid of. I'm interested is it still available?