Garden Earthworms

Garden earthworms are a desirable soil additive due to their beneficial qualities they produce for the soil. Worms help keep the soil loose so that it does not become compacted. Compacted soil does not allow for proper water and air circulation for our plants.

Since these plants are producing a “vegetable” instead of a “flower”, then it is important that the plant be able to draw the nutrients it needs from the soil otherwise our plants will not produce enough vegetables and the vegetables produced will be dwarfed and tasteless.

Garden earthworms digest soil and anything else in the soil to include microscopic stones. Their feces or their “poop” is known as castings. These castings contain nutrients that help improve the soil’s condition.

The castings also absorb water making it available for the plant when needed. Castings can absorb water from the air. The improvement in the soil’s conditions improves plant productivity.

Garden earthworms burrow through the soil leaving tunnels that help keep the soil aerated. This aeration helps the soil drain water instead of running off. Water that is run off instead of drained down into the root system usually takes vital nutrients needed by the plants.

Earthworms also keep the soil moving and can bring up from the depths of the soil, nutrients that are necessary for plants to grow and thrive. Earthworms can also reverse nutrient loss in our small vegetable garden plans due to leaching. Leaching in our garden is the loss of water-soluble nutrients from the soil due to rain.

Because of the nitrogen bacteria living in the stomach or gut of garden earthworms, the castings they produce carry high levels of nitrogen. The can also have more calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. All of which are important in our plant growth.

Earthworms also help reduce the risk of bad insects and fungi that could harm our plants. They can also digest any garbage in the garden. There are some many benefits to gain from the earthworm that we need to have them considered as an important element to have just like water and air.

I did not realize how important they were until I started reading about them. If I had had earthworms in my garden during the five years I have been gone, they would have all died due to the lack of moisture since no one would take care of my garden in my absence.

How many garden earthworms do we need for our garden?

We need to have as many as possible due to their potential benefit to our garden, yard and environment. I ordered three pounds of them from a supplier in Texas yesterday. I will put these in one section and see how they do over the next few months.

How do we care for the garden earthworms?

The earthworm needs to be kept in moist soil with organic material. This organic material can come from the yard such as leaves and grass clippings. It can also be fine mulches such as cypress mulch.

Another source is kitchen scraps as long as they have no acid or oils in them. Coffee and tea grounds are the favorite. Fruit and vegetable peels/rinds, eggshells and like materials are great stuff to feed the earthworms.

Avoid feeding meat scraps, fatty food wastes, milk products, bones and items with acid in them like tomatoes and oranges.

I like to put my scrapes directly into the garden. I dig a hole about four to six inches deep and put the scrapes into the whole. I will then chop and mix it up with soil and then top it off with plain soil. This is to keep pest away.

As a teen growing up in Leakey I worked at what use to be the Leakey Drug Store. The Drug Store was famous for its old fashion soda fountain. I made shakes, banana splits, floats and short order.

We also sold earthworms for fishing. The Drug Store had its own worm bed out back. So when a customer ordered earthworms, I would have to go and dig them up. One minute I was digging worms and the next making a banana split. This was before the food service glove. I washed my hands but I am sure there was residue under my finger nails.

The earthworm basically takes care of itself.

Today 01-08-09, I got my three pounds of worms. I split them into four different areas. See the pictures below. They do not show as much as I would like. I checked just before it got dark and it looked like all of them had burrowed into the ground. There was supposed to be 1200 per pound and I believed there were 3600 of them.

They seem to be healthy and growing well. They are also reproducing. I am really excited to see how well they do.

UPDATE: 9-19-09

As we have been digging up plants and transplanting them we have ran into some of our worms. They are multiplying as well as breaking up the soil. My soil is in real good shape.

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