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Dear Friends
Welcome to The Urban Worm newsletter, and thank you so much for joining us, for believing in the humble but mighty worm!
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Be More Worm
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Welcome friends to the New Worm Order. We are very nearly out of the woods, Spring is on the horizon, just hold tight a little longer! Embracing the short days and low light has been a challenge - and it's still a bit of a work in progress. Our mantra for February is “Be More Worm”, which of course you are welcome to adopt as a reminder it is totally cool to slow down and retreat a little bit in winter. If the worms can take it easy so can you.
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A Balanced Diet
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When the view outside is gray and dispiriting, delving into the hidden world of microbes always lifts the spirits, and a welcome reminder that the little guys are actually running the whole show. A diverse microbiome is essential for cycling plant nutrients, and is achieved by feeding your worms (or compost) a balanced diet of carbon, and nitrogen sources. If plant roots can’t get what they need from the ground they will take from their own cells which we then see as stress and disease.
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Sources of Carbon ('browns'): cardboard, paper, dry plant material (brown leaves, stalks) woodchip, coconut coir.
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Sources of Nitrogen ('greens'): kitchen scraps, fresh garden waste, coffee grounds, animal manures.
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As a rule of thumb you want to be adding 30% 'browns' to your worm farm, and if you are making thermophilic ‘hot’ compost you’re looking at 50-60%. Worms need moisture to survive and thrive, and too much carbon in the worm farm can dry out your food scraps. If you do have a carbon heavy worm diet be sure to monitor moisture closely. If you are looking for trusted lab services to test your compost or worm casts, we use Ecothrive, and we can’t praise their knowledge and efficiency enough - super helpful and friendly.
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Images from Anna's microscopy: the long fungal hyphae (centre, opposite) and circled above, a testate amoeba
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The Compost Cup
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Are you a compost champion? If you're already on top of your greens and browns, and you're making top plant and worm food from Mother Nature's bounty, maybe it's time to show off your skills! The UK’s 1st Compost Competition has been launched by the Soil Ecology Lab and we are loving it. If you fancy your chances you can enter via their website.
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1,000 Worm Farmers
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We recently had a note from Ana to tell us that she joined our 1,000 Worm Farmers project in 2021, and five years on her home-made worm farm is still going strong. We'd love to include a feature next month about the army of wormologists who took part in the project, to explore how things have turned out. Did you take part in the 1,000 Worm Farmers project? We'd love to hear how you're doing now, and how the worms are getting on. Drop us a line if you can!
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Worms & Wine
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A few months back we gave a proud shout out to Laurel Vines, a vineyard in Yorkshire for successfully raising the biology in the soil through the application of worm tea by adopting the services of our friends at Soil Nurture. They have since stepped up their ecological game a notch and are now the guardians of 1100 Litre Wheelie Bin Worm Farm. We love that our conversion kits are helping growers to take control of their soil health, supporting a diverse and resilient microbiome.
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One For The Diary
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Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th August 2026
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As you know talking worms is one of our favorite past times, and especially so when talking to flower and garden lovers. We’re excited to have been invited to share the love at the Derbyshire Flower and Garden Show this year in Bakewell - plus Charlie Dimmock will also be a guest speaker, and we like her a lot!
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And that is your little New Worm Order News fix for the month. We gladly say goodbye to another January and look forward to the year ahead - bring on the Spring!
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Anna & The Urban Worm team
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