Worms, the great gardening companion, have been very good to me. As I move out into the rest of the yard and the raised beds I am finding a great number of "presents" from the little critters. Worm tracings, or castings, or, well, poop to the lay person are a wonderfully rich deposit for the garden. I collect them and add them to my compost bin.
You can buy composted worm tracings. You can also buy "worm tea," which is taking the composted tracings, placing them in something like cheese cloth and soaking the resulting bag in water for several days. This brew can be diluted with additional water and sprayed on or used to water your garden plants. I prefer to compost my own.
I have a worm breeding ground on one end of my patio. Leaves gather thickly there over the winter months and when the spring rains begin to awaken the worm population they make a beeline for this food rich area and begin to propagate the species. By the time I come along to clean up the patio for the spring, there is a wealth of worms in various stages of development. I collect the worms and place them in the compost bin where they can do what comes naturally.
Unfortunately, this is also where centipedes gather and spawn their young. This is because they love to eat worms. So I am cautious as I work to steer clear of the unpleasant bugs. I also find the centipede babies and try to make sure that they go in the trash instead of into the compost where they would target my worms.
I am guessing that my large amount of worm poop is partly due to the warm dry winter. Whatever the reason, I am grateful for the generous donations.
When I start weeding the lawn, I will undoubtedly run across similar deposits from the deer. This also goes into the compost bin. Waste not want not. Or waste -- yes!
No comments:
Post a Comment