"Wylie Wilde" wrote in message
u...
Hi,

My garden seems totally devoid of earthworms (nightcrawlers). I think the
previous owner killed them with insecticide or some crap. Its been 2 years
already and I've been digging and planting my flowers- but absolutely zero
sign of them.

I noticed however- in a nearby park- there seems to be quite a bit of
wormcastings, ie a collection of dark small dirt balls.

I heard that the wormcastings may contain worm eggs.

I was wondering whether its worthwhile collecting the wormcastings and
placing them in my compost bin so as to rear earthworms?

Cheers,

Wylie



I suspect those piles of castings in the park are from lawn beetles. They
leave tell tale volcano shaped castings above ground. Years ago I was
playing golf on a course that had preferred lies. A friend used to take a
preferred tee off on any of these that were close by.

Worms do lay eggs and when the worms have mated you will see a lump in them.
The egg sac is capsule shaped and a reddish/brown colour.

Can't recommend a worm type but the preferred would be something that is in
your locality. Compost worms are good in compost bins but will rapidly
disappear from your garden in search of ideal conditions.

If you had black plastic used as a weed mat the soil may have been damaged
by a sterilisation process. Basically your top soil got fried. So you need
to encourage the soil to rebuild itself.

I would be out to improve the soil rather than adding worms. Lots of manure
and a layer of pine needles, straw, pea trash or similar. Something that
when it breaks down adds decayed matter to the soil. Then top it up with
more. This will increase soil fauna and not just earthworms but things like
springtails, bacteria and useful fungi. A good example of this is in a
forest where tree leaves have accumulated and broken down over years. The
soil underneath will be rich with plenty of humus and retain moisture. Soil
life will be abundant too.

Good luck with it.

Richard