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Old 07-05-2007, 05:07 PM posted to rec.gardens
William Rose William Rose is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2006
Posts: 233
Default Worm castings as top dressing

In article , Persephone
wrote:

On Mon, 7 May 2007 11:41:10 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote:

Persephone wrote in message
Some of my veggie patch has bare dirt that dries out fast.
I don't have enough home-made compost to do much,
so wondered if anybody had experience using worm castings
as top dressing. I have quite a bit of that left over.


Wow. I'd think that using worm casting to stop drying out would be like
using gold. It'd work but seems to me to be a bit of a waste. Do you have
access to a less precious mulch that would do the same job? For around
small veggies and seedling, I use horse food ie chaff. It's very fine, and
once watered and settled in, doesn't blow away but keeps in moisture quite
well in addition to adding to the humus levels of the soil.


Could you clarify term "horse food ie chaff". Is that something
I have to get at a horse place, or...? Sorry, not familiar with term.

Sounds promising.

Yes, worm ca$ting$ are overkill; I usually mix them with soil and
mulch and maybe some nutrients for planting/transplanting.

TIA


Couldn't you just buy a bale of hay from a feed store? A bale of hay
will cover a lot of area. Around here it is $5 from a store ans as low
as $3 from the grower.

- Bill
Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)