ALTHOUGH worms have always been considered an important part of garden soil management, it's only relatively recently that they have become an animal to be farmed. The subject of worm farms and the value of their produce are guaranteed to stimulate a passionate discussion between adherents and the sceptics.

Worms have a unique ability to convert soil minerals and organic matter into a form that plants are able to utilise exceptionally well and they also do an excellent job of aerating the soil. Because of these obvious benefits it's not surprising that a number of gardeners have invested in worm farms, hoping to produce vast numbers of these elongated miracle-workers.

Sadly, though, there are dozens of home-garden worm farms that have been an absolute failure, mainly because their owners have not understood fully the principles of worm management. I'm told that the great majority of failures in the home worm farms are simply brought about by over-feeding, or by feeding inappropriate materials.

The type of worm will often dictate the quantity and type of organic wastes that they are given. With the growth in professional worm farming operations, the disposal of worm castings and liquid wastes has become something of a dilemma for these operations. Numerous attempts have been made to market these products through normal retail outlets, but for various reasons, mostly cost and lack of promotion, the sales have been quite small. Those gardeners who have used worm by-products all claim to have had quite remarkable results.

A worm farming operation, 4 Seasons Organics, based at Logan Village, has come up with a novel method of improving gardens while at the same time, utilising their by-products. 4 Seasons Organics will visit your garden on a seasonal basis and apply liquid worm fertiliser for a fee of just 15c a litre for the first 500 litres and 10c a litre for every litre in excess of 500.

It has been shown that the average garden will require only 500 litres so the average cost will be $75.00 a season.

Gardeners wishing to avail themselves of this service should phone 4 Seasons Organics Mark Young 1300 886 258.