Can any of you remember me saying that I’d bought a wormery? It was back in February, although the only reason I remember when it was is because I posted about it here.
Anyway, said wormery is no more. Well, the wormery itself is still there but what’s inside resembles a toxic wasteland more than a group of happy worms going about their business of turning veg and fruit, paper and other stuff into compost and fertilizer.
So what happened? Well, somehow or another the rain got in. Lots of it. The wormery has a tight plastic lid that doesn’t blow off and although it has ventilation holes, these are tiny. And yet when I went out there to feed them a few days ago, the lid was half way up the garden and the wormery was half filled with water. Yes, that much.
The worms, for the most part, were dead. The few I managed to save were thrown into what barely passes as a flower bed but there's soil there and soil needs worms. The wormery itself has been left abandoned; it’s too heavy for me to carry and empty and I don’t want to just tip it out where it is. The job of emptying it by bucket would be too much for me too, so it’s just going to have to stay as it is for the time being until I figure out what to do about it.
Such a shame. It was coming along so well, too! I just can’t help wondering how that lid got off.
Sharon J xx
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9 comments:
I suspect that the rain got up from underneath through the drain holes. I can't remember if the lid overlapped the outer bucket, if it didn't that was a silly design fault.
I think I've got it. If the the lid wasn't on properly, even slightly unclipped, the repeated change in temperature from hot to cold would have contracted the seal, forcing it off to a point where the wind would have just blown it off.
RIP to the worms.. sorry to hear it didn't work out...
oh shame. I have heard that they can drown in the liquid formed by rotting veg even without the rain getting in.
Always sad when a project goes awry!
Oh Sharon....Heartfelt sorrow for your loss.
xoxoxox
Oh that's really too bad :-( I wish I could set up some vermicompost too... maybe next spring!
@ Richard. I'm not sure what you meant by drain holes as there are no holes underneath otherwise the fertilizer would run out. You could be right about the change in temperature though - I do try to make sure the lid's on properly but as you know, I'm not very strong so I may not have pressed one of the clips down hard enough.
@ Apieceofwood. I wonder whether worms get reincarnated?
@ Debi. The liquid drains through to the fertilizer tank at the bottom so that shouldn't have been a problem (and hasn't been during the time I've had them). This was definitely rain though - it came half way up the tank that holds the worms, compost and veggie stuff and wasn't there last week.
@ Susy. Indeed it is, especially when a load of creatures die, even if they are 'just' worms.
@ Cabbage Heart. Thank you. It really made me sad.
@ Canadian Saver. I'm not giving up. Once spring arrives, I shall have it up and running again.
Poor worms - are you going to start it up again - do you have any eggs left or baby worms ??
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