Daily Dose Blogger Bios
Love Your Worms!
When I first started gardening, I was such a priss.
I wanted to grow things, but I didn't want to have to deal with the ... the ick factor. Smelly compost made with cow poop. Slugs - EEEWW - What kind of crazy naked snails ARE they anyway?? But the worms ... the slimy, creeping, slithery earthworms - YYYUUUUUKKKK!!!! They were the worst. Whenever I came across one while digging I'd let out a yelp and leap up and do a grossed-out wiggle dance. This made the planting of my first garden take forever.
I don't use manure in my garden - a light top dressing of mushroom compost on my vegetable beds is as rich as I get, and nobody in their right mind ever gets used to slugs, but I have come to love my earthworms. They are little living factories, churning out perfect soil as they inch through your dirt. So now, when I come across an earthworm, I dance a different kind of jig - one of honor and respect - and then I pluck that worm out of the ground and transfer it to my vegetable beds, where they are sorely needed. I thank them and make kissy-noises all the way there.
This may be first grade science fair stuff, but I still think it's pretty interesting. Wherever you find these worms, you will find healthy soil rich in organic matter. Worms and great soil are bound by cause and effect. When an earthworm tunnels underground, it digests your lowly dirt, along with some decomposing organic matter as a side dish, and turns them into something incredible - Worm Castings! This worm poo is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and has loads of beneficial bacteria. Worm castings are the organic gardener's current cure-all of choice - whatever ails your plants, give 'em a nice top dressing of worm castings, and it'll be fine. I hate to be gullible - but they really do seem to work! I had horrible whitefly on my cannas, and ever since Worm Gold was used to mulch around them ... there is nary a fuzzy fly to be found. And those cannas are still blooming!
Here are some crazy factoids about earthworms:
*They are Hermaphrodites. that's why they multiply so rapidly - a worm mommy can be some other worm mommy's baby daddy!
*They have five hearts. Five!
*The largest earthworm ever found was in South Africa - it measured 22 feet from tip to tail (or from tip to other tip)
*Pesticides and herbicides can kill earthworms, so stay organic! Please!
Ha! I was up at the Adventuress's house doing a bulb planting video and she dug up a worm and threw it. I was such a priss too.
Where did she throw it? Is she not honoring her earthworms?
Once, when my Beloved Minions were here last summer, they were planting and MJ found a worm. MZ said "Eat it!" ...and MJ ATE IT!!!
he said it made his mouth numb.
Now that is REALLY not honoring your earthworms.
Silly Minions!