Earthworms

In the not quite one year of working on my garden I have seen four earthworms in total, three of which were in the last two months and two of which I accidentally chopped in half. Considering that my garden was a building site not too long ago, this is probably not suprising. I think introducing a few would benefit the garden somewhat .

So I intended to buy some (presumably from a fishing shop?) but I have no idea if there is a particular kind I should be looking out for and how many I should buy... any reccommendations? (front and back gardens are roughly 250m2 or so together)

Once I've bought them, introducing them to the vegetable garden should be easy, but what about the lawn? The ground is very hard at the moment having had little rain over the last few weeks (no rain, warm weather, blue skies... lucky us, but you should see the size of the cracks in the ground!) and I don't know how to get them underground and distributed around the garden while keeping them alive. How should it be done?

Thanks,

 

Not so much of a problem for the veg garden, but the lawn, hmm.... good point. Perhaps it's worth a try anyway. At best it will help, at worst the worms will die (but it's probably a better fate than being pierced and fed to fish, as is thier intended purpose for sale). But how to get them in (esp the lawn) and how many...

 

I find the most worms in my garden under areas covered with black plastic sheet. And under areas that I have "mulched" with about a foot of grass clippings.

There is some type of work that is driving the "good guys" away in the UK - is it flatworms?

But I don't know what the name of the "Good Guys" is, sorry

 

Lob worms are the guys you want http://www.wormbait.co.uk/lobworms Isuggest you make a heap of decaying vegitable matter in a corner somewhere keep it wet the worms will migrate over your garden when they are ready.

 

Here are a couple of ways to collect different kind of worms. If you access to any field or land with livestock then the fun begins or though you might not think so. You are looking for cow/cattle or horse droppings in fact a BIG PAT that was delivered a couple of weeks ago, by this time it should be dry and crusty. Lift up the pat and you should be in luck with lots of red type worms plus others.

Part two find any patch of grass, friends garden, playing fields, council roundabout etc, you will need to go out at night when it is dark with a torch. Shine your light on the grass and you will see worms galore, now here is the trick the worms will only be half way out the ground you have to grab them carefully in your fingers and hold the tension as they will try to retract into the ground. Within a few seconds you will feel them relax and you can then just ease them out the ground, in most cases these are the big lob worms you are looking for and in the right conditions you will hit the jack pot.

Trust me at night this can be the greatest giggle you have had in a long time, unless of course you are still on your honeymoon.

wiggle-on Russ

 

Thanks guys, very helpful. Not really any accessible farms and the like near me so I guess I'll buy some. Certainly easier...

"I suggest you make a heap of decaying vegetable matter in a corner somewhere keep it wet the worms will migrate over your garden when they are ready."

So my compost heap will be perfect then. Probably take quite a while to migrate over the garden though, I would imagine, no?

 

"So my compost heap will be perfect then"

Providing you are not adding more green material - otherwise the temperature may rise too high for worms. But an existing compost pile which is well, or partially, rotted would be a great home for them.

 

Ah ha, So maybe not perfect... I'll be adding grass cuttings every weekend or so over summer...

 

If you have got a last-years pile the worms will love that - then make a separate this-years pile

 

Sadly, space and (current) design dictate that that's not possible.

 

Can you use Walnut's idea "I suggest you make a heap of decaying vegetable matter in a corner somewhere" - just put some of the old compost in a small pile on one of your beds / borders for the time being, put the worms in it, wait a while, then spread over the soil?

 

As an ex angler (fisherman) I used to have a wormery and its excellent for those kitchen scraps too. They will breed so you can regularly remove some and put into the garden.

When I started my wormery I bought 250 worms (Lobworms) for it and every weekend I would remove 50 for fishing bait this was from August to March, total of around 1500, at the end of the fishing season the whole lot, remaining worms and composted scraps went into the garden as I found wormeries did not work too well in the hotter months. Once back to August another starter pack of 250 worms was purchased.

A extra food source for the worms was the addition of a spoonful of cold mashed potato once a week. Juices will also ooze over a period of time from a wormery, a solid tray underneath will catch this and can be used as a liquid plant feed.

Steve...

 

Wow, that's a damn good return over a few months, maybe I will be able to find a little corner for some old compost if it works that well. Cheers.

 

I agree with walnut, get composting. A wormery is a good place to start. You send off for special tiger worms I've had one for years and now the little tiger worms are in all my composters and garden alike. Doing a wonderful job too.