Worm castings are one of the best organic fertilisers around, so it makes sense to start your own worm farm at home.

It’s easy to do. All you need is a couple of foam boxes from the fruit store – broccoli boxes are the best – and of course, you need to pick up some composting worms from a worm farmer or your garden centre. A pack of about 1000 worms is plenty to get you started.

One of your boxes is going to house your worms. Use a screwdriver to make a series of small holes in the bottom. That will allow any excess liquid to escape.

The other box will sit underneath to collect the liquid – you can dilute this to use as a plant tonic in the garden and on your pot plants. It’s a good idea to put an upturned plastic container in the bottom of your box to act as a safety island for any worms that fall through. You may need to put a small weight on top of it to help hold it down.

Next, you need to add some bedding material for the worms to eat. A mixture of moist compost, shredded paper or cardboard (soaked in water) and chopped vegie scraps makes excellent worm tucker. Make it a depth of around 10cm, then find a cool, shady spot in your garden or garage to keep your worm farm.

All that’s left to do is introduce your worms. They’ll quickly burrow down out of the light and when they do, cover the mix with a hessian bag, or moist newspaper.

Check on them at least once a week to see if they need more feed or moisture and pretty soon, you’ll be harvesting your very own worm castings to use about the garden.

To harvest your worm castings, just leave your cover off for a while in a bright spot. The worms will retreat from the light and you can simply scrap layers of castings from the top. Use your harvest as an additive to potting mix or a soil improver whenever you plant.