How to Make a Wormery for Garden Compost: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

If you want to supercharge your composting efforts and create the richest fertiliser nature can provide, building a wormery for garden compost is the perfect solution.
Worm composting — or vermicomposting — is easy to set up at home and transforms kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost and liquid feed that plants absolutely love.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to make a wormery step-by-step, what materials you’ll need, and how to keep your worms happy and productive.

Why Make a Wormery for Your Garden?

Wormeries (also called worm farms) offer many benefits:

Create high-quality compost (vermicompost): Packed with nutrients and beneficial microbes.
Produce liquid fertiliser (“worm tea”): Ideal for feeding vegetables, flowers, and houseplants.
Reduce household waste: Recycle kitchen scraps instead of sending them to landfill.
Space-saving: Wormeries are compact — perfect for gardens, patios, balconies, or even indoors.
Low maintenance: Worms do most of the work for you!

Starting a wormery is one of the most rewarding ways to support a healthy, thriving garden.

Step 1: Choose or Build a Wormery

You can buy a ready-made wormery kit or make your own DIY version easily.

DIY wormery options:

Stacked plastic boxes: Drill drainage holes and ventilation holes.
Large single container: Like a food-safe plastic bin or old wooden box.
Recycled items: Use old bathtubs, buckets, or sturdy crates.

Key wormery features:

Drainage: Excess liquid must drain out.
Ventilation: Air holes prevent the wormery from becoming anaerobic (smelly).
Darkness: Worms prefer dark, damp environments.

Tip: Keep your wormery raised slightly off the ground and add a tray underneath to collect worm tea!

Step 2: Get the Right Type of Worms

You can’t use ordinary garden worms for wormeries — you need special composting worms.

Best worm species for wormeries:

Eisenia fetida (Tiger worms or red wigglers)
Eisenia andrei (similar to red wigglers)
Dendrobaena veneta (European nightcrawlers)

These worms thrive in rich organic environments and reproduce quickly.

Tip: You can buy composting worms online, from garden centres, or worm farm suppliers.

Step 3: Prepare the Bedding for the Worms

Before adding worms, you need to create a comfortable home for them.

Best worm bedding materials:

Shredded newspaper (black and white print only)
Cardboard (soaked and shredded)
Coconut coir (rehydrated)
A small handful of garden soil (introduces beneficial microbes)

How to set up bedding:

Moisten the bedding material until it feels like a wrung-out sponge.
Fluff it up loosely to allow airflow.

Step 4: Add Your Worms

Once the bedding is ready, gently add your composting worms on top.

Leave the lid off and expose worms to light for a short time; they will naturally burrow down into the bedding.
Cover the surface lightly with a damp newspaper sheet to maintain moisture.

Important: Give your worms a few days to settle in before adding lots of food scraps.

Step 5: Feed Your Wormery Correctly

Worms aren’t picky, but they have preferences!

What to feed worms:

Vegetable scraps (potato peelings, lettuce leaves, carrot tops)
Fruit scraps (banana peels, apple cores)
Coffee grounds and tea bags (plastic-free only)
Crushed eggshells (adds calcium)

What NOT to feed worms:

Meat, fish, dairy
Oily foods
Citrus in large quantities
Spicy foods (like onions, garlic, chilli)

Tip: Cut food into small pieces to help worms process it faster.

Step 6: Maintain Your Wormery

Happy worms mean great compost!

Wormery care tips:

Feed little and often: Only add more food once previous scraps are mostly gone.
Keep bedding moist: Add water if bedding dries out; cover wormery if it’s too wet.
Turn gently: Occasionally fluff the bedding to improve airflow.
Temperature: Keep the wormery between 10°C and 25°C (50–77°F). Too hot or too cold can harm the worms.

Step 7: Harvest Worm Castings and Worm Tea

After about 3–6 months, your wormery will start producing usable compost and liquid feed.

How to harvest:

Worm castings (vermicompost): Rich, dark compost at the bottom of the bin.
Worm tea: Drain off liquid regularly and dilute 1:10 with water before using as a plant feed.

Tip: Move finished compost to one side of the bin, add fresh bedding and food on the other side — worms will migrate naturally, making harvesting easier.

Conclusion: Turn Kitchen Scraps into Garden Gold

Making your own wormery for garden compost is an easy, eco-friendly project that pays big rewards.
By recycling kitchen waste, you’ll create rich vermicompost and nutritious liquid feed that will supercharge your vegetable garden, flowers, and houseplants naturally.
Start your wormery today — your plants (and the planet) will thank you!