Worms! Soil-building Workhorses
(Page 3 of 4)
June/July 2008
By Barbara Pleasant
In a plastic storage bin perforated with ventilation holes, toss together equal parts wet newspaper or cardboard strips, soil and compost until the mixture is 10 inches deep. Bury a pint or so of grain-based food waste such as old bread, flour, rice or cooked pasta just below the surface, and add 200 or more worms. Snap on the cover, and place the bin in a shady place (placing the bin in a hole will help maintain optimum temperature and moisture). In fall, use the contents of the bin to top-dress carrots and beets — two crops that respond dramatically to vermicompost.
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To encourage earthworms to congregate in one place, dig a hole about 16 inches deep and equally wide, and refill it with veggie and fruit trimmings from your kitchen and garden, topped with 2 inches of soil. Cover with boards or an old tarp and forget about it for a month or two. Dig up your buried treasure in the fall, and transfer some of the worms to an indoor bin. Move the rest to spots in your garden near compost piles, grassy pathways or deeply mulched beds. They will know what to do!
Whichever worm projects you decide to try, this time of year you should have no trouble recruiting willing worm workers from your own garden. Just poke around beneath mulches, compost piles, or clumps of grassy weeds (a favorite earthworm hangout). After you have collected a few dozen earthworms, give them a job. You’ll be doing your part to fulfill the earthworms’ destinies, because every last one of them was born to spend its life turning decaying organic matter into rich, fertile soil.
Captive but Comfortable Environments for Worms
Keeping an indoor worm bin is a great winter project that gives a double payoff in spring: several gallons of fabulous free fertilizer, and thousands of worms (and cocoons) to release into your garden in spring. For certain success, follow these five simple guidelines:
Location. To mimic underground conditions, choose a dark, cool place such as a basement or remote closet where temperatures range between 50 and 65 degrees.
Housing. Modest-sized plastic storage bins or other moisture-proof containers (such as large, ventilated cat litter jugs) are ideal. Dark-colored containers shield captive worms from light; cover translucent containers with a blanket or paper bag to block out light.
Bedding. Soak a medium-sized cardboard box in water before tearing it into ragged 3-inch pieces, or do the same with a 4-inch stack of newspapers or junk mail. Mix with 1 gallon of compost or loamy soil (avoid using sand or sandy soil, because sharp sand particles are abrasive to soft-bodied earthworms). Allow one or two days for the moisture level in the mix to stabilize before adding worms.
