Worms are Wonderful!Worms are the unsung heroes of our gardens. They are humble creatures. I never hear a bit of complaining out of them. Really, they are quite remarkable, when you consider everything they do. Plus, earthworms are very low-maintenance fellow soil dwellers. They simply go about their business, digesting everything in the soil, turning it into rich, loamy, earth. They tell me that, while they love living in the garden, their true five-star accommodations, an earthworm-vacation, if you will, is living in your compost heap. There, they find the most delectable foods to chew. This is a win-win for worms and gardeners. Vermicomposting, as composting with the wee wigglers is called, produces some of the best-structured and well-broken down compost for gardens. Embrace your inner “worm farmer!” Start making vermicompost. (I won’t tell them you consider yourself an earthworm farmer. I’ll just tell them that you have this new, five star resort for them to hang out in. They will be thrilled!) How Do Earthworms “Make” Worm Castings?As they move through the soil, they take in soil, food, grass clippings, and just about anything in their path, digest it, and let it out the other end. So, vermicompost is actually worm poo. That poo is called “castings.” Henceforth, we will refer to this nice, rich soil as “castings.”What goes on when things in the soil passes though them? First, a gland near the gizzard adds calcium carbonate to the materials, which then pass into the gizzard. The gizzard acts like a blender, grinding up the materials further. After everything is ground up, hormones and digestive enzymes further digest the materials. They are then excreted by the worms in the form of castings. The castings are composed of rich humus, and contain higher levels of beneficial bacteria, organic matter , and plant nutrients (nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, phosphorous and potassium) than any other soil. The wigglers are a tremendous help to the composter !
Make Your Worms Comfy for Best ResultsThey will help you quickly reduce your compost heap to usable humus. In order to keep the earthworms alive and thriving, you need to follow a few instructions. First, you cannot let the compost heap get too hot. They will cook in the temperature that many compost heaps regularly reach.To keep your them comfy, you can build your compost pile shorter and longer or wider than you normally would. More surface area translates to more places to let off heat, and thus a cooler pile. With them doing the digesting, you won’t need as much heat to break down your pile. A little like Goldilocks, earthworms do not like overly cold conditions, either. In the north, you can try to over winter them in a pit/bin combination that is sheltered from temperature extremes and is as least 4 feet wide in each direction and 2 feet deep. Or, you could bring your worms inside with you! Under the sink bins are a good way to continue your composting efforts when the weather is cold. Raising them is called vermiculture. There are several great online resources for building your indoor container, allowing you to become a vermiculturist. The basic steps are these:
Happy gardening, Geefrank Return from Worms to the Compost page Return to the Vegetable Gardening HOME PAGE
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