The Wonders of Worms in the Garden!

Lisa's Landscape & Design ♦ 05/15/2013 ♦ 2 Comments

A handful of worms is worth a fortune in the garden.

Earthworms are greatly valued in the garden community for a number of reasons. I would say that the earthworm is a lot like the “trophy” you get for the success of your soil preparation.  After years of composting, composting and composting some more, my soil is now a rich, dark mixture of organic matter and nutrients and with that success, comes earthworms in great numbers.

This morning as I was planting 3- quart sized plants in my garden, I found a total of 18 worms in an 18″ x 8″ area. I was as proud of that number as I am of my prized flowers, fruits and veggies, for that number is pretty darn impressive by anyone’s standards.

Earthworms are a huge value because they are crawling composters of all things organic. Worms literally plow through the earth churning the organic matter while eating everything in the soil exchanging it (from the other end) for worm castings which are highly nutritional, power packed compost pellets that re-energize the soils nutrient content providing an even greater amount of food for plants and trees. Worms also aerate the soil adding oxygen and allowing water to pass through the soil more effectively by the nature of how they pass through the earth.

You will not have worms in your soil if you do not have healthy, organic, chemical free soil. So they are a great measure of how well you are doing in your space.

When you see earthworms in your soil, thank then for their hard work and contribution to your garden!

In order to get the greatest amount of worms and the benefit of their presence, you have to be organic all the way down to your fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers are bonded with salts and they will kill off your earthworms and eggs. Chemical treatments for pest and disease control will also affect your worm population so this is yet another reason to only chemically treat what is necessary after all organic methods have been exhausted.

If you are beginning with a new garden bed or are in a new home and you are interested in conditioning the soil with earthworms, you can order worms online and add them to your soil. Be sure you buy the Earthworms native to our area and that you release them in the evening when it is coolest. Be sure you loosen up the soil for them and hose them lightly so they can acclimate as easily as possible to their new surrounding. Some of the worms may die during this process, but they will become compost as well.

Earthworms are a very beneficial ally in the garden and the more compost and organic matter you add, the larger the number of earthworms you will attract and re-populate. In exchange for their hard work and yours, you will reap the rewards of a beautiful nutrient rich, oxygen filled soil.

Dark, nutrient rich soil is the gift we get from earthworms and compost.

Now go get your organic garden on!

Lisa LaPaso

Lisa’s Landscape & Design (“like” me on facebook )

“Saving the Planet One Yard at a Time”

Check me out on Youtube!