Get Hands Dirty: Increase Worm Population for Better Yield

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Worms, scientifically known as Lumbricus Terrestris, play a crucial role in garden fertility. They produce worm castings, which are a form of manure and carbon dioxide, all of which are loaded with nutrients. If you are looking to sustain a healthy population of worms in your garden, there are a few things that you should do to improve conditions for them.

Attract worms to your garden by adding organic matter such as compost, chopped leaves, leaf mulch, grass clippings, and herbivore manures. Worms require a food source, so grow a green manure cover crop. There should be no bare soil, and the garden beds should always be moist.

Table of Contents

Worms are only present in healthy and organic soils. They are subdivided into 7,000 species, 23 families, and more than 700 genera. All of them, however, have common aspects, including:

• Soil tilling and aeration
• Mix soils for enhanced fertility
• Hastening the composting process

A healthy garden needs worms, and they also need a welcoming environment to thrive.

How can I attract worms in my garden?

The two key actions to take would be to add organic matter to the soil as this provides a food source that will naturally attract them. Compost is a fantastic addition to any garden bed. There is nothing better than homemade compost.

If you want information on making your own organic, nutrient-dense compost, check out this blog post I wrote, where I provide a masterclass on composting so that you always get great consistent results every time. Or even watch the video below.

The beds require adequate moisture. Aim for 80% moisture content so the soil feels damp, but no water is released when a handful is squeezed.

Ways to Attract Worms to Your Garden

Worms will only thrive in a good environment. Secondly, every healthy garden will need worms. Avid gardeners must introduce organic matter that gives worms nutrients, attracts them, and maintains their health. Worms prefer damp and dark areas since they are sensitive to light. Here are natural ways to attract them.

1. Add rotten organic material: Compost and manure make the perfect food for worms. More so, compost and manure will attract the worms and boost your garden’s moisture and nutrient levels.

2. Bury dry leaves, straw from dead plants, and dead roots into the soil. These components act as food for the worms

3. Water your garden. A moist garden attracts worms deeper into the soil. Gentle watering limits the environment in which worms live.

4. Add a layer of grass clippings over the soil to shield the worms against the sun, birds, and other predators. The clippings will, with time, wither and enhance the quantities of nutrients and moisture in your garden.

Introduce Organic Matter to Attract Worms

You don’t have to outlay finances on the organic matter because You can find most of the necessary materials in your garden.

1. Cornmeal

Cornmeal is a food source for worms. According to a study by Molly College, cornmeal can heighten the population of worms in your garden. Once you sprinkle it over the soil, allow it to settle for 30 days to give the bacteria time to attract worms. How should I do it, you may ask?

• Only apply the cornmeal in spring when the soil is ready
• Dust the garden with a corn mill
• Mix it gently with the soil underneath
• Moisten it with some water to ensure it is not too wet

2. Coffee

Coffee is excellent at preventing weeds and providing nitrogen. Coffee beans are rich in protein, which is loaded with nitrogen. It is considered one of the best foods for worms. The worms will consume coffee beans and then excrete them deep into the soil, improving their quality. It has been found to:

• Attract worms
• Sustain favorable temperatures
• Boost soil texture
• Reduce harmful pathogens

The concentration of the coffee grounds should not be more than 25 percent. Anything above this will ruin the pH levels of the soil. This will make your soil acidic, put worms off entering the area, and affect the growing conditions for your plants.

3. Manure

According to a recent study, manure is an excellent food source for worms. Worms tend to be drawn to decomposing organic matter.

They break it down into small bits, allowing fungi and bacteria to feed on it. As the fungi and bacteria access other parts of the garden, they release manure into the plants.

How can I Create a Healthy Environment for the Worms?

Given that the soil quality will dictate the number of worms in your garden, you must maintain the right conditions for them to thrive. Here is how.

Avoid Tilling the Soil

When it is wet, you want to reduce the traffic that gets to your garden. If the soil is largely compacted, the worms tend to be strained because they are almost immobile.

While tilling is a common misconception among farmers, avoiding it can boost soil health. Tilling is unnecessary as long as worms are in your garden, given that the soil is guaranteed many benefits.

Do Not Use Chemicals

Fertilizers acidify the soil and are bad for worms. Some fungicides are also not used on the soil because they ruin its structure and kick out worms.

Chemicals will kill off other microbial life within your soil. These are the start of the food chain and support other creatures you require for a healthy garden.

Work on Drainage

Waterlogging can be prevented by mounding and draining the soil. Your crawlers need a good amount of water and proper aeration. Allowing your soil to become saturated will cause compaction and remove all the air in the soil, turning it anaerobic. This is not conducive to attracting worms into your growing beds.

What are the Benefits of Worms in my Garden

Worms are largely known as natural plows and can be highly beneficial to any garden. They effortlessly boost the quality of your soil.

Their castings are rich in phosphates, potassium, nitrogen, minerals, and nutrients critical to the thriving of any garden. The tunnels they create loosen the soil and aerate it. Here are some more benefits:

They till the Soil

The tiny crawlers create canals that allow water to percolate deeper into the soil. This effect reduces or eliminates soil erosion and prevents water from running off. Most of the worms fall under the following two categories.

1. Worms: These are small and live near the ground surface. They are not disturbed by high temperatures and prefer to feed on organic matter such as compost. As a consequence, they produce warm and richer castings. You will notice them in your compost pile. These types are recommended for your indoor vermicomposting.

2. Underground worms: These varieties are found underground, deep inside the soil, and are larger than those that compost. They are excellent at aerating the soil and improving it. The worms thrive in cool environments. Although they produce castings, they are not as rich as those of worms that produce compost.

Note that worms range in size from microscopic ones to those a few feet long. Those found in home gardens are mostly field worms. These kinds tend to thrive in cool environments.

When it is rainy or dark, you may also spot them on the surface of the soil once their burrows flood. On the other hand, field worms are found in compost piles and will mostly settle at the bottom, where it does not get too hot.

If you are a seasoned farmer wondering which worms are best for your garden, the Red Wiggler types of worms are the most ideal. While you can still depend on the nightcrawler types, the Red Wigglers are more effective in processing organic scraps.

They process soil

Worms eat everything as they burrow through the soil. They eat dry matter and mix it with the soil to form castings. Since worms’ gut has multiple microorganisms, what they produce is about eight times more nutritious than what they consume.

Note that the castings have a neutral pH and produce humic acid, which controls pathogens in plants for healthy growth.

What Worms Do

Worms consume grass, dead leaves, animal manure, soil, rotting plants, and semi-rotten compost. These are ground in their gizzards, mixed with stomach enzymes and digestive juices, and finally released into the soil.

Worms also eliminate debris and fungi, ridding the garden of unwanted concentration. They turn soil into humus to improve its structure because their castings are stable.

How can Worms Thrive in the garden?

These soil crawlers do not need much to thrive, so your garden will also stand out when they do. The following are some of the things you need:

• Vegetable scraps and raw fruit
• Finely crushed eggshells
• Natural fibers, such as linen and cotton
• Plant-based raw materials that are low in salt

Things not to feed the worms include:

• Oils, dairy products, and meat take longer to break down
• Buttery cooked food
• Foods high in salt

Crucial Do’s and Don’ts for Maintaining Worms

Here are things you need to know to attract worms and harmful things that could keep them away from your garden.

Their Likes:

• Loam soil: Your soil should not be too sandy
• Corrugated cardboard and newspaper: Soak these materials or shred them and place them in your garden.
• Moist soil: Given that the bodies of worms are 80 percent water, they need moisture to survive. However, ensure that the water is not too much to prevent drowning since they breathe through their skin.
• 50-60 degrees temperature: In summer, you will see fewer worms, and more will show during fall. During winter, they will penetrate deeper into the soil.
• Maintain a soil pH level of 5-8: Worms thrive in a neutral pH that is seven but can also do well between the levels of 5 and 8

Their Dislikes:

• Seafood
• Bones
• Tobacco
• Fat
• Grease
• Lime
• Coal
• Faces
• Wood ash

Why are there still no Worms in my garden

Have you already tried the above guidelines, but none seem to be working? If there is no activity despite your efforts, begin by dwelling on the following questions:

1. Could critters eat the worms or prevent them from coming to your garden?

2. Could your soil be excessively cold, dry, wet, or hot?

3. Is organic matter enough to protect the worms from direct sunlight?

Once you have exhausted these questions, you could consider purchasing worms to help in attracting more of their kind.

Keep off Pests as you Attract Worms.

Edible substances that attract worms could also be food for pests and other rodents. However, you can prevent pests by adding foods that do not have strong aromas, such as meats, onions, grease, oil, and dairy. For coffee grounds and cornmeal, you can filter out odors by covering them. Make use of paper, wood shavings, and shreds of leaves.

Are There Other Ways I Can Achieve an Organic Garden

Introducing worms is one of the most successful steps to achieving an organic garden. Other ways to do so are as follows:

Increase Organic Matter

Every successful garden has plenty and diverse organic matter. Given that manure releases nitrogen, every type of manure can improve the quality of your soil. To keep off pathogens and their negative effects, wait about three months before using the manure in your garden after your harvest.

Use Cover Crops

Cover crops boost the fertility and consistency of soil. They have decaying roots that allow oxygen to penetrate better into the soil. Beans, clovers, grass, and peas are ideal because their root system is ideal.

Growing a cover crop is one of the best things you can do through the winter months. It will feed your worms and protect against compaction, prevent weeds from growing, feed the microbes, stop waterlogging, and lock up nutrients to prevent leaching.

I have a very in-depth guide on cover crops, so if you want to read that and know more about them, you can read it here.

Never Leave the Soil Bare

Always keep the soil covered using organic matter and mulches. Grass clippings and leaves will do. Wood chips and newspapers are also excellent choices. These items will help in the retention of moisture in the soil.

Earthworms are nocturnal and can live in your garden for up to 12 years. Their unique duty is to till the soil, so you do not have to do it yourself. Worms are some of the best choices if you want the perfect dad gift ideas.

Filling Raised Garden Beds For Free

Discover the secret to filling your raised garden bed for FREE using cheap, natural, and organic methods! In this video, Tony O’Neill from Simplify Gardening will guide you through the Hugelkultur technique to create a moisture-retentive and nutrient-rich environment for your plants, all while saving money and being eco-friendly. 🌱💧🌿

Learn how to gather and use materials like rotting logs, garden trimmings, woodchips, cardboard, cow manure, and homemade compost to fill your raised garden bed. We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of raised garden beds and how they can benefit your gardening experience. Plus, don’t miss out on Tony’s book recommendation, “Composting Masterclass,” for mastering the art of creating nutrient-rich compost at home. 📘🌟🌻

Get ready to transform your gardening game and watch your plants thrive with these sustainable, cost-effective methods! Click through to watch now, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more gardening tips and tricks. 📺👍🌼

Conclusion on how to increase worm population in your garden beds.

Worms are so important and a great indication of how well your garden soil is doing. If you have worms, your soil holds plenty of organic matter. If you do not have many worms, it is time to follow the advice in this post.

Don’t feed your plants and hope they will grow. Feed the soil and, in turn, the worms, and know your plants will grow.

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