Adding worms to your garden may sound like a relatively simple task. However, there are several important steps to take into consideration before starting.
If you plan on worm feeding at home, it is always a good idea to start out small. That way you can learn the basic techniques, and implement them properly.
Start with the basic topic first. While it’s always a good idea to have a strong grasp of the basics, there’s no reason to be learning how to add worms to your garden until you have first established a basic skill.
Just remember that the more you learn, the more you will be able to implement.
When it comes to deciding on the appropriate food for your garden, many people make the big decision without first establishing which plants thrive on what.
Just because a plant grows well under a certain sun condition, doesn’t mean that it can survive in the same conditions.
You must research the species in order to find out which one will work best.
A lot of the worms you will need will be dead. Most worms, when kept alive, eat decaying organic matter. This food is in turn fed by moisture.
Once you have established that you will have a surplus of rotting wood or organic matter, it is a great time to start feeding your worms.
Worms like the smell of this decaying meat, and get hooked on it, so they’ll keep eating even when they are not hungry.
Worms need a source of water in order to live. The larger the water source the better. You can use a container of water, a large watering can, or just dump the water directly on the soil.
Although it can take a little longer, there are also some types of worms that thrive on a simple root.
These would include the cutworms, which are very popular. Other varieties of worms should be added to the soil via the use of a beading needle.
Not all of these methods should be used together, and it is up to you to determine which ones should be included in your arsenal.
While this is a fairly simple process, it does take practice before you are comfortable with it.
Take care not to overfeed the worms, as this can cause their metabolism to slow down and lengthen their worm’s life cycle.
Add the food as slowly as possible, and don’t hurry the process, so the worms do not become overly upset.
With the correct amount of water and food, it will be relatively easy to make sure your worms are thriving in your garden. Adding worms to the garden can help you stay happy and healthy.
You can now add beautiful flowers, nutritious vegetables, and a thriving community of insects to your garden.
Remember, it is never a good idea to just add worms to a garden. First you must first establish what will be your food source.
How many Worms for Raised Garden Beds?
This is a question I get asked often – How many worms do I need in my raised garden beds?
In fact, when I go to check on the health of my lawn, I sometimes find that there are worms already thriving in the topsoil — which is a major concern. While this is alarming, I feel that this is quite common and easily resolved.
It’s not uncommon for worms to become a problem when you have the lawn mower running over the turf and also because there is a lot of moisture in the soil.
When the mower rotates over the lawn, the water absorbs into the soil and creates a moist environment which allows the soil to swell.
This swelled up soil can be very difficult to manage but with a little planning, it can be addressed.
One way to get a large tract of lawn in order to test for worms is to go to your neighbor’s property and see if you can dig in their large tract of grass.
Just like on a big yard, there will likely be some worms present as well. So, make a note of this and work to correct the situation at home.
The best solution is to dig into the turf and look for worms and then take a sample of the soil and send it to your local worm farm.
They’ll assess the situation and let you know whether or not there are worms. Depending on the results of your sample, they will tell you how many worms need to be removed.
To remove the worms, you’ll need to remove all the grass and any manure around the base of the turf. You’ll also need to cut the roots in order to reach the soil. Remove any healthy roots and all diseased ones.
You should then remove any loose dirt from the turf that holds the worms and discards it.
Next, you’ll need to dig around the base of the turf and then use a cutter to cut out the grass and base of the turf, exposing the bottom-side-of-ground work.
Leave any healthy roots in the topsoil to allow the worm population to recover and grow from these areas.
If you find any worms in the soil, there are a couple of options available. You can dig the soil up and toss it away, or you can put the soil back in the holes.
When worms are discovered in the soil, the worms move into the upper portion of the soil and root themselves in the topsoil.
You can get around this by carefully applying a rooting hormone (which you can purchase in the mulch section of the garden store) before the grass has time to mature. A chemical called “bromothymol” can also be used in this manner.
If you do not have these products in your garden supply, the good news is that these have no known side effects.
Keep in mind that you will have to actually transplant the turf after introducing the root system in the soil.
Once the worms are in the ground, you can then take the treated turf and remove any diseased or worm-infested parts of the turf.
These will most likely just require removal, but you will find a mixture of new roots and new turf as well.
You can now determine how many worms for raised garden beds you need. If you have about one inch of new turf, you have enough worms to remove and put back into the soil.
If you have a large piece of turf with soil still in it, then you’ll need to remove the worms and spread the soil with a mixture of a good rooting hormone and regular topsoil.
If the worms are actually infested, you may find that you have to remove the entire soil to expose the roots of the worms.
You can do this by cutting the soil back and using a level of hand treading shovel to excavate the topsoil to expose the roots. You can then add a good rootworm preventative solution and then replace the cut and exposed soil.
How to Attract Worms to Your Garden
There are some very simple ways of how to attract worms to your garden. They are so easy to do that you should be able to do it with an old lawnmower in no time at all.
You can’t really do anything with a lawnmower, but you can get it to work for you by brushing the dirt from the blades as you move around in the wheel while you’re doing your entire garden.
Also, there is always a bit of grime and soil between the wheel and the blade.
Now, if you have a lawnmower like the popular Honda one, you should be able to brush it right into the grass, or even the ground.
This should make a few hundred grubs fall from the blade and into the grass. If you don’t have a lawnmower, you can brush them into the dirt or your garden.
If you think about it, this makes sense because what would the grubs want to eat? It’s grass.
Grass is what they are supposed to be eating when they make their way into your garden, and therefore, their way to getting it.
When you use a lawnmower, you will find out that Gut Worms are in the soil and feeding on it. The best way to get rid of these is to clear the soil and then get the grubs to die. I say kill them because the grubs will eventually come back if they live and thrive.
Make sure that you scrub up the mud and soil in your garden while doing this for gut worms, because after the grass is dead and cleaned, the grubs will just start breeding again. This is a common occurrence, but a very bad one for worms in your garden.
The second thing that you can do to get rid of them is to get rid of the dead grubs and put down mulch.
This works great because then you won’t have to do any work to keep walking around and watching the area where the grubs are. In time, they will die and the mulch will take care of it.
After the grubs are killed, you should make sure that you keep them out of the compost piles. That’s right, worms can’t survive in compost, and they can’t survive in a compost pile.
It’s important that you don’t stand there and watch your compost pile all day, and every day, until they all die off. You also have to keep the compost piles dry so that they can really take root.
For those grubs that remain, just try to pull them out or crush them so that you don’t leave any that are alive or are living.
Sometimes, there may be more than one pile that you have to do, but once you have done the first pile, you can move on to the next.
Once you have crushed or pulled out all the dead ones, you should clean the compost pile and then put down some mulch. This will prevent the grubs from ever returning.
It will help to see if you have any problem with worm species in your compost heap.
If you have, then you need to add enough compost for those worm species to be happy, but if you don’t have any problems, then you can use the simple methods of how to attract worms to your garden.
Best Worms for Raised Garden Beds
There are many different varieties of worms available on the market for the best worms for raised garden beds.
The varieties are endless, and you can choose any combination that will help your garden. Just take some time to choose the correct species for your needs and your garden will be well suited to its environment.
How are you going to use these worms? Where are you going to place them?
These are questions you will want answered before you purchase any type of worms for raised garden beds.
If you plan to move your garden to a new location, you may need to choose some larger worms that will survive the change in temperature.
For example, look for worms that are able to handle an increase in temperature from night time to daytime.
You do not want your worms to suffer the consequences of changing temperatures.
Another consideration is where you are going to put your worms. There are different types of bedding.
Look at bedding that is not too thick and is more porous, or look for bedding that is just a bit thicker.
It is important to know the best bedding for the worm’s needs. Many people make the mistake of assuming they know what to use, when in fact they do not.
There are worms that can handle so much that some types of bedding are even poisonous to them.
Other types of bedding are very absorbent and will allow the worms to stay healthy and well fed.
But you do not want to mix and match too many types of bedding. You should be sure that you have the proper type of bedding for the size of your worms.
Do not think that only bedding with a worm can be used for these worms. Some bedding is just not appropriate for this.
Also, there are worms that need a different type of bedding that is not compatible with this type of bedding.
In addition, consider the amount of light the worms get. Some worms require a lot of light, while others need less. This can affect the amount of bedding needed for them.
As you determine which type of bedding is best for your worms, consider the amount of light they get in their environment. Do not be afraid to experiment with different types of bedding.
Find the ones that are appropriate for your garden and are going to be durable for the environment in which you will be placing them.
When you buy top quality worms, you will want to find ones that are going to be resistant to many of the pests that may be a problem in your garden. Be sure to check the food chain in your garden. Find out what the common pest for the worms is.
You can purchase worms that are resistant to the most common pests in the garden.
Be sure to also read the labels of the worms that you are considering purchasing. There may be certain ones that will not survive in certain environments.
Wasp’s, fire ants, and green ants are all pests that the worms are extremely vulnerable to.
If you purchase worms that are resistant to these pests, you can prevent some of the problems that will occur in your garden. You will also have worms that are very difficult to kill.