But then something happened.
Something terrible.
After a month, the legs on one side slipped inwards and unceremoniously dumped my beautiful garden and its plants onto the ground, crushing some of my purple beans and all of the herbs on the downward side.
Pretty dramatic, right? I could make it even more dramatic. Like this:
It’s like a motivational poster.
Basically, it seems the bolted-leg tripod approach wasn’t quite stable enough. After an hour’s work, I was able to save the plants on the top side, plus remove the dirt (it was way too heavy to lift back up and prop) and set up the worm bin tower garden on my back plaza where the legs will be more stable. I also tucked two cinder blocks beneath it for extra stability, then reloaded the dirt and worms. Now it doesn’t shake at all and really seems to be tough.
Digging through the dirt in the center of the fallen garden did show me one thing I hadn’t known about before the fall: the worms were very, very happy and had been making lots of babies.
I’m going to replant this barrel garden when I get a chance and give this thing a better test. I think the design is generally sound and with a little tweaking of its stability will turn out well in the end.
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9 comments
If a worm barrel falls, and a gardener is not around, did it make any sound? Perhaps. The tiny voices of thousands of falling worms would be incredibly saddening. *sniff*. I need to go to my comforting place.
Thanks for the great post!
"I feel a great disturbance in the force… as if millions of worms suddenly cried out and then were silenced…"
When I saw a Kickstarter with this design I KNEW it would fail! There is no way the amount of weight can be supported on such small legs over a long time. Further a gardener will have to be sure they put this where they want it for a long time as it is not moving easily. (BTW, it has been redesigned.)
Karl
Yep – you got it.
Setting something heavy that is supported by wooden legs on soft garden ground was a mistake. If it didn’t sink into the soft ground and collapse, the wood would eventually start to rot and then collapse. I seriously doubt it would have toppled over if it had been set on a hard surface, such as a cement patio, which is what these contraptions are made for…those who don’t have typical garden space.
Yes, you’re right. I planted it as firmly into the ground as I could, since we lacked any sunny concrete areas that weren’t direct paths. No dice.
I’ve just constructed one of these for my garden, set up on cinder blocks instead of weak wooden legs. ;) However, I have a question about watering and caring for the worms. Is there anything specific I need to know about keeping them happy? Is it ok to feed them strictly kitchen scraps, or will they need some “browns” as well? Do they need to be “watered” periodically? I have found plenty of information about making and setting up this type of system, but not much about the followup care for the worms. Thanks!
I stuffed in all kinds of things… leaves… kitchen scraps… shredded paper. They probably don’t need it, but it’s a varied diet. Don’t let the tower dry out completely.
Avoid citrus and onion, and no meat! It will go rancid. Don’t let it get too hot. They eat less in the winter so you may need to find another way of getting rid of food scraps when it’s cold.
We gave up on the barrel when we were given one of those round three tray setups – the worms go through the food faster and you pull soil out of the bottom tray. I don’t bother but you can collect the liquid runoff for fertiliser.
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