Compost Worms In The Garden
Can You Put Compost Worms
Into The Garden?
The short answer is “it depends”.
Compost worms need moisture (minimum approx 50%) and a well mulched, cool place to live.
IF you think you can keep your garden like this, then it may indeed be possible to do so.
Note that cold winters may kill off some or most of the worms, but some worms or some cocoons may survive.
There ARE some work-arounds for this (See below)
How Can I Put Composting Worms Into My Garden
What it is possible to do is put composting worms (being “epigeic” worms) into a special garden worm feeding station.
The compost worms need to be fed materials for bedding, as well as kitchen scraps within this special farm.
From there they can work outwards into the surrounding garden bed, depositing their “black gold”.
The nutrients leaching from the station also feed the garden.
Its said that such a feeding station can eventually help to draw in native earthworms into the area as well.
Without such a feeding station, if compost worms are added to a garden, they may well die, as they need special conditions, being suitable bedding, food and moisture.
A well mulched garden may help them survive.
But they DO need additions of food such as kitchen scraps, and a fair bit of moisture to survive. This is why a feeding station is advised.
Some people use plastic pipes to create these feeding stations.
Some build a basic worm farm in contact with the ground in the garden.
I prefer to use a 5 gallon bucket to do this with.
To see my video on how I created a garden “feeding station” for composting worms, see here: