Equipment needed

• 2 litre clear, plastic bottles or plastic box
• Safety scissors
• Compost or soil or a mixture of both
• Sharp sand
• A few worms
• Water  to dampen layers
• Worm food – grated carrot, vegetable peelings, dead leaves, shredded newspaper

Step by step

1. Collect some worms from the garden. Look in the compost heap, under stones in damp places or dig a hole.
2. If you're using old plastic bottles cut the top ¼ off the bottle, to make a lid. Make a slit in the side of the lid so that the top can close over the bottom part.
3. Fill the bottle or your pot with alternating layers of sand, soil, sand, compost, sand etc. Spray each layer with water so that it is damp.
4. Add a few worms to the top of the bottle and watch them burrow down. Then add the ‘food’ to the top. Wash hands well after handling worms and compost.
5. Wrap the black cardboard around the bottle or pot to make it dark. Worms do not like light and it will encourage them to burrow around the outside of the bottle so they can be observed.
6. Place the wormery in a warm place. Remove the cardboard for observation periods and record findings. Check that the contents are damp and that there is food available for the worms.
7. After 1 week, release the worms back into the garden.