Worms do not like to live in neat waste so the key thing to restart your wormery is to think of what bedding you can provide to get them going again. Whilst you can use various materials like torn up soaked cardboard, peat moss and even shredded paper, the ideal bedding is worm casts themselves so if you have a kit with some of this left in this would make a good starter.

Otherwise a coir bedding block will be great - just soak and go. If you are able to add a couple of cupfuls of soil that will be perfect as well. This will have lots of beneficial bugs, bacteria and fungi that will help your worms survive and thrive. The tiny particles of stone and dust will also help your worms digest their food. Whatever bedding you decide on between 6 and 10 cm will give them a really good start.

There are 27 species of UK Earthworm and most of those will not be suitable for your wormery, but composting worms are the ones that you will need. These are called all sorts of things reds, brandlings, dendras, tigers etc etc, the main thing is they are worms that naturally litter worms, worms which thrive in rich organic matter compared to deeper soil burrowing worms. Don't kid yourself that you can easily collect enough from the garden or even your compost heap. You will need a minimum of 250g of Composting Worms to start off the average size wormery and to deliver an even better start use 500g.

Wormeries are not designed to keep your worms inside‚ They are made to provide the right conditions for your worms and so your worms need to settle inside the kit which can be a little disturbing for novice worm keepers! The way to minimise escapees is to set them off in the morning and leave the lid off all day - so that the worms go away from the light and establish themselves inside the bedding and of course add some food. Even so until the worms establish their burrows there may be some escapees. Don't worry too much - put the wormery on soil if you can so that those who do make a bid for freedom will do some good elsewhere in your garden.

After a couple of days your worms will have established within the kit and you are ready to add more waste. There is no reason to wait for the previous waste to be eaten, as long as the worms are working in the waste it's fine to add more.

For everything you'll need to get your wormery up and running and to keep it going for months (Including a moisture mat to fit your wormery) order our Wormery Rescue kit for just £39.95. You can Select whether you would like to either receive 500g of live Composting Worms with the Kit or if you are giving the Pack as a gift, you can choose to receive a voucher for live worms which you can redeem for free at a later date.

For all your other wormery supplies check out our Wormeries Category here

https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/collections/worm-composting