Worms!

Last year Maryruth gave me a bucket of worms for my garden. I planted them in one of the container beds and watered them a few times and proceeded to forget about them. When I finally did remember, I dug down and couldn't find any so I assumed I'd killed them. To my utter amazement and delight, as I was weeding the garden the other day, I unearthed some of the biggest, fattest earthworms I've ever seen (not that I've seen that many). I was so excited, I called up Maryruth and told her "I have worms, I have worms". She recommended large doses of garlic, then I explained that they were in the garden.

I also dug up a bunch of grubs, which I fed to the chickens. Grubs are great for breaking down waste, but not what I want in the garden - they eat everything. Last year I also discovered several nests of mealy worms in the carpet coverings I have on the rabbit cages. Not knowing what wonderful creatures they were, I proceeded to destroy them. Now that I want them for fishing, they haven't reappeared. Between the earthworms and the grub worms, I could still open a bait shop. At least I'll have them when we go fishing.

Earthworms, aka nightcrawlers, are one of the best things you can do for your garden. They break waste (kitchen scraps, hay, manure) down into rich compost, adding their own waste (castings) to it. But be careful though. Chemical wormers have been known to kill the little guys, so if you use them on your animals, don't put the worms in that manure. And don't put that manure on your garden until it has had at least 3-4 years to leach the chemical out of it. Nightcrawlers are economical, too. A tub of about 30-40 costs less than $3 at walmart or most bait shops. That many worms would easily proliferate in any size garden, and then there would be plenty for soil and anglers alike.

Now go get those worms!