Donna in Idaho wrote:
I bought a 40 gallon livestock watering trough for my new patio
container garden (also lots of pots and an Earth Box for two tomato
plants). My son-in-law suggest that I get some worms and put in the
trough. Is that a good suggestion? I know worms certainly keep the
earth in better shape, but I'm just learning about container gardening.

unfortunately, worms tend to wander off at night and
a raised bed or container above ground isn't the best
location for them (too hot, too cold, too variable).
you can put worms in and it won't hurt things, but it
won't help much for long either. certain species might
do better than others (avoid night crawlers as they
need deep burrows in certain kinds of soil to do well).

you are better off using a good potting mix and
making sure the plants used are able to tolerate the
temperature extremes and still do well.

40 gallons is plenty of room for keeping worms if
the container is in the ground in a shaded location
or if it is well mulched to keep from getting too
hot or too cold (if your frost line in the soil is
more than the depth of the container then that is
not a good thing as the worm population will be knocked
back each winter).


songbird