Worm farms and big blue barrels
April 20th, 2007 by trinatune
I just love it when I get given or find things for free that I can reuse in my garden. Two such fabulous things recently came my way - a worm farm and a big blue barrel.
My council has a fairly regular clean up day where people can leave all their junk and green waste out the front of their house for collection. People usually start putting their stuff out about a week before pickup so until the council collects it, it’s fair game for who ever wants it.
One night when I was out walking I stumbled across a worm farm. It was one of those round multi level worm farms. Everything was in tact - it had two levels, legs and a lid, no worms though. What a find!
Luckily, I was just a block from my house so I took it home straight away and left it out in the rain for a few nights. It cleaned up easily and has joined my composting family (rectangular worm farm and compost bin) in the greenhouse. It came at just the right time because my other worm farm, a rectangular one with just one level, was beginning to get pretty full.
My other pride-and-joy is a big blue barrel, which my friend Ravi gave me. Ravi is a candle maker and he used the barrel to store some of his candles’ ingredients. He kindly cut the top off one end of the barrel to create a “home made” water tank for me.
The barrel sits under the gutter (which has a big hole in it) of my garage to catch the rain. I use the water on my garden and on my greenhouse plants.
The only problem is that since there is no lid on the barrel, mosquitoes breed like rabbits in the water. However, problem solved thanks to Ravi, who recommended white cloud fish to eat the larvae.
I couldn’t find white clouds at my local pet shop but instead bought mountain clouds, which are pretty similar. They look a lot like your regular old guppy but a lot sexier with an electric blue stripe down their bodies, and red fins and tail.
I started off with five fish in my barrel, lost two somehow? But one had seven babies so I now have 10 little fishies and no mosquito larvae. Thanks Ravi!
Hi there, the hardware shop up the road from us is selling large plastic drums for about $25. I’ve been thinking it would be perfect as a cheap rainwater tank and so we’re going to get one.
I’d heard there was a fish species that would eat the mosquito larvae, so thanks for this information. Glad to hear it’s working for you. Why pay a few thousand dollars when you can get a cheaper recycled tank?
Hey Trina.
Quick question - if you’re using the water on the garden, how do you not lose the fishies?
G
Hi Grant,
Yes, there is a bit of a trick to ensuring no fish end up on the garden. Since I just scoop the water out that I use, I just check the bucket or watering can for fish before I use it. Also if you scoop at the surface of the water, generally the fish won’t go near the scooping device. So far so good. I think though that I have lost a few fish through overflow on really heavy rainy days. But that is something I can’t really help, and I have only lost a few.
That is very cool.
(I wrote too about some of the options for collecting / diverting rainwater from your roof, here: http://greenomics.blogspot.com/2007/04/water-water-everywhere-except.html).
Do you need to feed the fish or do they just live off the insects?
Hi David,
No I don’t feed them. They seem to be surviving off mossie wrigglers and any poor old insects that fall into the barrel and drown.
[...] that you can pack up and take with you when you move. If you don’t want to create your own do-it-yourself tank or fork out for the more expensive metal or plastic tanks, which remain as permanent fixtures [...]
Could you punch some small holes near the top of the barrel, that would let out overflow rainfall, but not fish?
[...] Grow Girl describes how to install a plastic barrel to collect rainwater, which Trina at Greenfoot did. Her mosquito problem was solved by stocking her tank with mountain cloud fish. She just has to [...]