1.) First we built a base out of bricks that we had lying around. You could use paving slabs instead if you have them. The idea is that there is a solid base for the wormeries to sit on so that the worms cannot esacpe into the ground but the liquid generated is allowed to run out of the wormery.

2.) Whilst the base was being built we stuffed all the old car tyres with scrunched up newspaper. This will eventually become a nice bedding for the worms and also acts as good insulation against the cold. You need to pack in newspaper until you really can't put in any more.

3.) Next we decided that we wanted to collect any liquid produced by the worms as this is very rich in nutrients and is a very good plant feed. We happened to have a piece of steel sheet with holes in it lying around, so we proped this up on the base with some bricks to create a platform. The holes in the steel sheet were quite large, so to prevent any worms falling out or any mice getting in, we put a piece of fine wire mesh on top of the steel sheet and put the tyres on top of that.

4.) Finally we introduced the worms into their new home and gave them some food!

I think the wormery will need a small modification as it's currently not that easy to harvest the compost once it has been made. Since the good compost will be at the bottom of the wormery (as that material was put in first), we'd have to take the whole thing apart and empty out the tyres onto a plastic sheet. The worms would then burrow to the bottom of the pile because they don't like the light leaving you free to scrape away the compost from the top.

This method of harvesting sounds like hard work to me so I will probably put a wire mesh at the bottom of each tyre so that each one can be lifted off separately like a tray, in a similar way to the commercial wormeries. That way, the bottom tyre which contains all the nutrient rich compost can be removed easily, emptied and then put back on the top of the pile.