Encourage Earthworms in Your Soil for a Healthy Garden
Any gardener who is proud of the way his garden looks will worry about providing the proper aeration for any lawn that he has planted, mowed and nurtured with a lot of effort. While you can always to do this mechanically with the various garden tools that are always available, the easier and probably healthier way of doing is to introduce earthworms into the soil of your lawn.
How to Encourage Growth of Worms
You can always add to the earthworms in your garden by purchasing them by the pound from nurseries and other suppliers of bait. But it is best if you use these as a seed to create your own colonies of earthworms that you can add to all the plants in your garden. Worms love soil that is organically rich and have a neutral pH. Check the pH level and add a lot of organic matter to it. Use kitchen waste to create compost in one corner of your garden, and spread this compost to all the soil in your garden. Mulch with clipped grass, leaves, straw and any other mulch material that has worked well for you. Add water and poke the soil without turning it.
Allow some time for the worms to grow and check on their growth after two months. You will shortly have soil that is well aerated, has its own natural manure and god for your plants.
Earthworms Act As Monitors Of the Health of Soil
The condition of the soil is the most important factor for the longevity and healthy state of any plants that you grow in your landscape. Earthworms are very beneficial to a garden and will be seen in all organic soils that are healthy. Earthworms eat the bacteria and fungi that are found on the matter that is decomposing within the soil, and they excrete “worm castings” that act like a sort of natural manure that is filled with nutrients that plants and a lawn will thrive on. All earthworms will aerate and till the soil, while they speed up the decomposition of any organic matter like compost, and in a way act like monitors for the soil’s health.
Once the soil has a healthy population of worms, look after it well, and check for worms periodically. Add compost and mulch regularly and worms will become part of the ecosystem in your garden.