Products to treat your soil

 

Products to treat your soil!

 

BAGGED PRODUCTS

BRUNNINGS GARDEN COMPOST

Brunnings Garden Compost with added seaweed is ideal for improving soil and enhancing its ability to hold nutrients and moisture. Seaweed contains a broad range of trace elements, alginic acids, bio-active compounds and nutrients that stimulate microbial activity in the soil to help promote healthy root structure. It breaks down to add humus to the soil making it more fertile. It can also be used as a mulch to prevent weed growth and retain moisture.

ACTIVGROW

The fully composted enriched formula can be added into in-ground garden beds and planter boxes. Environmentally friendly, fuss-free and perfect for the health of tired soils ActivGrow is a simple solution any gardener can use and suitable for all garden types. ActivGrow is enriched with 16 active ingredients to improve soil health and yield including a rich organic compost, chicken and cow manures, fish and seaweed, blood and bone, Gypsum, iron and Zeolite just to name a few.

ATTUNGA HUMUS PLUS

Being a completely organic compost it will enrich all garden beds and has excellent moisture retention. Very good as an additive to potting mixes. It may be added safely to soils which are used to grow a wide range of vegetables, shrubs and flowers.

EARTHCORE MUSHROOM COMPOST

This compost is 100% organic spent mushroom compost. An excellent soil conditioning, pre-planting treatment for garden beds. It opens up compacted soil adding organic matter to improve nutrient and moisture retention. It has been subjected to a composting process which results in a product that has a low odour and a texture that makes it easy to incorporate into the garden soil.

 

WORMS AND WORM FARMS

Having a worm farm is like owning over 500 fairly low maintenance pets that never need walking, are happy to chew through your scraps AND help reduce your green- house gas emission carbon footprint. By starting a worm farm and feeding our food waste to them, each Aussie household can reduce their carbon emissions by approximately 800kg per person per year. Not to mention the wonderful liquid worm tea (wee) and vermicast (poo) to pamper your plants and help feed the soil.

Worms are Mother Nature’s natural recycler’s full of countless beneficial bacteria and enzymes that help sustain the life and fertility in your garden. They dig through and aerate the soil allowing greater water penetration leaving behind their castings and tea which is used by your plants to improve the health of the garden.

To keep a worm farm we need to imitate the environment that worms inhabit naturally. They are not no-maintenance, don’t forget them and allow their bedding to dry out or keep it in a spot where it may become waterlogged. Overfeeding is also a common issue; the secret is to feed smaller amounts of food more regularly in different spots. If there is too much food or the addition of meat or dairy it will start to rot and can attract vermin.

Worms will eat anything that was once living such as vegetable scraps and peelings, teabags and coffee grounds, vacuum cleaner dust and hair clippings, torn up newspapers or soaked pizza boxes. The greater the variety the better the castings and remember to throw a couple of handfuls of garden soil in as the worms use the grit to grind up the waste.

You can also keep worm farm worms in your garden. Remember worms need moist dark, damp situations to survive and thrive, so unless your soil is rich, damp and covered in mulch you will not be successful.

 

GETTING STARTED

The easiest way to start your worm farm is to buy a commercially made worm farm. They usually consist of 2-3 layers, all of which do different things. Think of it like a three storey house, the top level is the kitchen and dining room, the middle level is the bed room and living quarters and the bottom level is the toilet.

• Start your worm farm by lining the base of the middle tray with newspaper or wet cardboard cut to fit the base.
• Soak the bedding block that comes with your worm farm in water for about 30 minutes before spreading over the newspaper or cardboard or you can use a layer of compost as bedding for your worms.
• Add your worms, as a rule of thumb about 500 per adult in your family as a starter. Cover them with 5 sheets of damp newspaper and hessian, replace the lid and you are ready to go.
• Once your middle layer is full to the brim, you can begin to use your top level. Start by placing the food, covered with the hessian sack, in this level, and your worms will gradually move upwards to live and feed.

WORM TEA

After a few weeks worm wee will collect in the bottom box of your worm farm, a lovely dark colour and needs to be diluted before use usually to about the colour of week tea. This can be applied to any type of plant and is particularly great in the edible patch. Worm Tea must be collected frequently so the farm doesn’t become water-logged and they drown.

VERMICAST

In your home worm farm vermicast will collect in the middle bin and is one of THE best fertilisers ever, but must be used sparingly as it is very strong. Use it by sprinkling it around your plants and lightly watering it in.

 

 

TUMBLEWEED PRODUCTS

 

Tumbleweed produces a range of worm farms that allow room to roam while allowing you easy access to your worm waste products. They are Australian designed, Australian made from 100% recycled plastic.

WORM FEAST

The Tumbleweed Worm Feast is an in-ground worm farm installed into a raised garden bed or straight into the ground. This allows worms to move in and out through the holes digesting the scraps placed inside through the top and then returning the nutrients to the surrounding soil.

CAN O WORMS

The Can O Worms worm farm is a great starter worm farm and a fantastic way to get the kids into vermiculture. It has been designed with built in mounds to encourage the worms to move from collector trays to working trays. It has a unique flow through ventilation system to maximise performance and a no mess, drip free tap to collect your liquid gold, worm tea.

WORM FACTORY

The Tumbleweed Worm Factory is compact and designed to sit in the garden or even on a balcony. It has two working trays and a collector tray to collect the worm tea, very easy set-up to use.

COMPOST STARTER BLOCK

Perfect for starting your compost bin or an addition to your raised garden beds or just dug through the garden the block has an added slow release fertiliser. The block is compressed and once soaked in water will expand to 45 litres of material.

WORM FARM AND COMPOST CONDITIONER

When used in a worm farm this product helps neutralise acidity and balance pH levels so your worms or in the case of a compost bin, microbes, can digest larger quantities of food waste faster. It’s made from a special blend of natural minerals which helps the soil bacteria preserve essential nutrients increasing the availability for your plants. A balanced environment naturally reduces odours thus reducing pest infestations.