Small Space Worm Composting

[Online Course]

Small space worm composting: How to convert kitchen scraps into top quality compost.

No space for a compost heap? Wormeries / worm bins are ideal! This course will teach you everything you need to run a healthy, thriving worm bin and to make top quality worm compost - and show you how to use it to transform your growing.

Includes support over the year.

Cost: £75 or 3 monthly payments of £25

Enrol

Wormeries are ideal for balconies, patios, rooftops and yards: they are small, don't smell and enable you to:

Make the BEST organic feed for container gardening. It really is! Good quality worm compost is full of nutrients AND teeming with more beneficial soil life than conventional compost. It also contains complex compounds that plants love!
Recycle your kitchen waste AND save money: convert all your veg & fruit peelings, coffee grounds, tea leaves (and even small amounts of cooked food) into free food for your plants.
Reduce Carbon Emissions. Food waste sent to land fill releases large volumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Worm composting can reduce methane emissions by 95%.

What you'll learn...

How to choose the right wormery

Which is the right model or size to choose? Which design features to look out for - and which to avoid?

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How to set up, maintain & harvest it

Step by step instructions on how to set up and feed your bin, keep it healthy, and then harvest the worm compost / vermicast.

Understand what worms need

Worms have relatively simple needs - and once you understand these, you'll be able to create conditions for them to thrive.

Money Saving tips

Learn how to make a simple but effective wormery at low cost. And the ingredients you can find for free to boost the speed and productivity of your worm bin.

How to make the BEST worm compost

The quality of worm compost depends on what the worms are fed with. We look at which ingredients can significantly improve the quality.

How to Troubleshoot

Learn about the most common things that can go wrong, and how to avoid them and put them right.

Many people have difficult or stressful experiences in running worm bins because: -

The worms die or leave.
The bin becomes horribly smelly (a healthy bin will NOT smell bad!).
The contents get soggy and wet, with worms drowning in the worst instances.
The worm compost is just not great quality.

I will help you avoid all the above - and run a happy, healthy wormery that makes fantastic quality compost for your plants.

How the Course Works

I've designed the course to give you all the information you need to start and run a wormery PLUS ongoing support for a whole year to help you improve your setup, troubleshoot or ask any questions.

The course includes:-

Two live lessons to help guide your first steps in worm farming (or troubleshoot an existing wormery).
Two additional support meetings during the year to offer seasonal advice for your wormery and to answer questions or help with any problems. Submit questions in advance if you can't join live and I'll record an answer for you.
Over 2 hours of video lessons to walk you through exactly how, step by step, to make, set up, feed and harvest a wormery - and how to use worm compost effectively in the container garden.
Fact sheets summarising key information.
Ask Mark, your teacher, questions through the course website - anytime throughout the year.
A private Online Forum for the course where you can meet and share experience with other participants.

Course Dates - 2025

Part 1 - The Foundations

Two Zoom lessons (each one hour) to cover the essentials, each repeated 3 times. Join one live or listen to the recording anytime.

1. How to choose, set up and run a wormery, repeated on:-

Saturday 17 May, 3pm BST / 9am CT
Tuesday 20th May, 1pm BST / 7am CT
Tuesday 20th May, 7pm BST / 1pm CT

2. How to harvest and use worm compost, repeated on:-

Tuesday 3 June, 1pm BST / 7am CT
Tuesday 3 June, 7pm BST / 1pm CT
Saturday 7 June, 3pm BST / 9am CT

Worm Support, Q&A and Seasonal Tip Meetings
Share your progress, get support, and ask your questions (if you can't join live, email your question and I'll record the answer).

Monday 14 July 7pm BST / 1pm CT
Tuesday 7 October 7pm BST / 1pm CT

Why is worm compost so good for plant growth and health?

Worm compost is often considered the ultimate plant food, and is known as 'black gold', because:-

It's rich in all the major nutrients plants needs as well as many important trace elements and other growth promoting compounds.
It's teeming with microbial life that enhances plant vitality and increases resistance to pests and disease.
It's a low cost, environmentally friendly and organic way to feed plants - and to stop food scraps going to landfill.

What makes it stand out - and why it is so effective in container gardening - is that it contains the microbial life that plants need for growth and health. This is often lacking or low in off-the-shelf commercial potting mixes.

The benefits of worm compost for growing include:

Stronger growth, better harvests

Your plants will look healthier - and they will grow stronger and yield better.

Increased pest & disease resistence

Tests show that worm compost can significantly increase plants resistance to pests and diseases.

Better germination & reduced 'transplant shock'.

It can also help improve germination, and reduce the shock plants experience when moved from one container to another.

About Mark Ridsdill Smith, your tutor

I first discovered wormeries when growing on a balcony in London 14 years ago. After making lots of mistakes (when, I confess, I was responsible for multiple worm deaths), worm compost started to transform my container gardening. Everything grew stronger and healthier. I also found it hugely rewarding to recycle our food scraps rather than throwing them in a bin.

Since then I've experimented with a variety of different wormeries in my concrete front yard (pictured). I currently have five! They are the main form of fertility in my container garden.

Over the years, I've met lots of people who struggle to run a wormery, and seen a lot of unhealthy wormeries that don't produce good compost. I've also seen misleading marketing information and instructions about wormeries that sometimes compound the problem.

I created this course to show that, with a bit of knowledge and practise, it's not difficult to create a happy, productive wormery. It's a bit like riding a bike - second nature when you get the hang of it. I'd love to show you how.

[Online Course]