How to Keep Worms in Your Garden

Every gardener knows that the more earthworms there are living in their garden soil, the better the soil condition is. You can buy earthworms to add to your garden, but of course, if the conditions in the soil are not suitable to sustain the worms, they will either die or move off to a place that is more attractive. There certainly is no way to fence in the worms in your garden to keep them there.

So if you want to encourage the earthworm population in your garden soil, how should you go about it?

First and foremost, avoid using chemicals in your garden. Garden chemicals may be retained in soil for several years, and the residue can make the soil poisonous to earthworms. You must remember that earthworms have no lungs. Instead, they "breathe" through their skin, which must also remain moist, but not too wet or they suffocate. This is the reason that soils rich with organic matter are so important. Worms need the oxygen and moisture from the decaying organic matter. They seek out organic matter, which is why you can turn over a pile of wet leaves and find worms at work underneath. It is the reason you will find them in your compost pile.

Worms constantly tunnel through the soil. Their tunnels are airways and water-holding tubes which provide the root systems of the plants in your garden with oxygen and dissolved nutrients that are so vital for growth. Earthworms also produce the extremely fertile "castings" from the soil they "eat". They obtain nutrients from the decaying matter in the soil, which is pulverized in their tiny gizzards. A worm's digestive system is similar to that of poultry in this way. The grit in the soil they eat helps them digest organic matter by grinding it in the gizzard, just as a chicken's gizzard uses grit for digestion.

Encourage worms in your compost pile by keeping it moist, turning it regularly so that new decaying matter is easily available to them throughout the pile, and add new organic matter as often as possible. Pile on the weeds that you pull from your garden, and grass clippings, dead-headed flowers, kitchen scraps, and any other plant waste that you clean up from your yard and garden. Worms love it all. Be very careful if your lawn has been treated with chemical fertilizer or pesticides, though, because these clippings can be very toxic to earthworms.

Encourage worms in your garden by using organic mulch. Remember the worms under the pile of wet leaves? They will also congregate under mulch, especially if it is doing a good job of moisture retention.

Mature earthworms produce an egg capsule about once a week during the warm months, and each capsule may contain as many as 20 eggs. The egg capsules will remain in the soil of your garden until the moisture and temperature conditions for hatching are right. (About 70 degrees is perfect, and moist-but-not-too-wet. ) Baby earthworms are mature enough to reproduce in 8 - 12 weeks. That's 2 - 3 months before they reach maturity. You can see how important it is to provide a healthy place for your earthworm friends if you live in a short-summer climate.