"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , Franz Heymann
writes
Thanks for the information, Jim. If I knew where to get the earthworms,
I
will order some. Or maybe there are enough in my garden for starting
things
up. I will do a bit of investigating.

There are almost certainly enough, both of brandlings and of the normal
Lumbricus earthworm. They breed quite fast, so it's a matter of getting
the conditions right - the brandlings like a higher humus content.

If you are not getting enough worms by natural methods, its likely the
conditions aren't right, so buying some and adding isn't going to help a
lot.

My soil is on average ever so slightly on the acid side. ( I would call it
"just about right"). Most of what I try to grow does reasonably well, except
if I try something not quite hardy for our part of the world. I do have a
worm population, but it is not as dense as it should be. I suspect that I
have too many blackbirds and thrushes. One other problem might be that the
topsoil consists of a layer of only about 4" overlying the bedrock. The
only reasons why it is not waterlogged are that it is on a slope, and the
rock is badly shattered.

As soon as we get a bit of rain, I will put some kitchen scraps out and
cover it with a piece of weighted down black polythene, just to see what I
can attract by way of worms.

(Obviously, in a closed system like a wormery, you need to innoculate
with worms, which is why people tend to buy them)

Franz Heymann