hard to believe it's been five years since i
started this project of recharging garden soil
using worms, veggie scraps and about anything
else i can put in there to see how it breaks
down through time.

this past year i've started testing native
worm species (that i've found in the gardens
when digging) to see how they do in captivity.
i already know that our night-crawlers don't do
all that well (they may live, but they don't
reproduce very quickly) so i've not brought any
of those back indoors.

the one bucket of natives was doing very well
when i checked it last week so i split that into
two buckets. and after emptying my backup worm
source (used to restart the buckets i'd emptied)
i have set that up to be ready for even more
natives. by next year i hope to be able to shift
to at least half or so of the worm bins being
used to raise natives.

i'll still keep some of the buckets using the mix
of worm species i am currently using as they do a
great job, but they don't survive our cold or hot
spells when put outside.

tomatoes planted, onions planted, peppers planted,
tomorrow i hope to get the rest of the small stuff
planted and then on to starting the peas and beans
(a bit late on the peas - got sidetracked by doing a
few other projects, silly me, but they do look nice
now that they're done). better put in most of the
lima beans first.

we've had a few cold nights, close to frost, i was
surprised that the peppers and tomatoes were not
affected, but each area is surrounded by rocks and
elevated a bit so that would help.

strawberries are coming in faster than i expected.
no shortage of them this year... chippies are
feasting away.


songbird

On 6/3/2015 7:29 PM, songbird wrote:
hard to believe it's been five years since i
started this project of recharging garden soil
using worms, veggie scraps and about anything
else i can put in there to see how it breaks
down through time.

this past year i've started testing native
worm species (that i've found in the gardens
when digging) to see how they do in captivity.
i already know that our night-crawlers don't do
all that well (they may live, but they don't
reproduce very quickly) so i've not brought any
of those back indoors.

the one bucket of natives was doing very well
when i checked it last week so i split that into
two buckets. and after emptying my backup worm
source (used to restart the buckets i'd emptied)
i have set that up to be ready for even more
natives. by next year i hope to be able to shift
to at least half or so of the worm bins being
used to raise natives.

i'll still keep some of the buckets using the mix
of worm species i am currently using as they do a
great job, but they don't survive our cold or hot
spells when put outside.

tomatoes planted, onions planted, peppers planted,
tomorrow i hope to get the rest of the small stuff
planted and then on to starting the peas and beans
(a bit late on the peas - got sidetracked by doing a
few other projects, silly me, but they do look nice
now that they're done). better put in most of the
lima beans first.

we've had a few cold nights, close to frost, i was
surprised that the peppers and tomatoes were not
affected, but each area is surrounded by rocks and
elevated a bit so that would help.

strawberries are coming in faster than i expected.
no shortage of them this year... chippies are
feasting away.


songbird

We bought some worm eggs from Territorial in January and put them in the
raised beds and the fence border beds. Poking around in both the other
day and the earthworms seem to be having a party in there. Lots and lots
of worms around now, may be what's encouraging our plants to grow so
well. Now I need to order something that attacks stink bugs.

George Shirley wrote:
....
We bought some worm eggs from Territorial in January and put them in the
raised beds and the fence border beds. Poking around in both the other
day and the earthworms seem to be having a party in there. Lots and lots
of worms around now, may be what's encouraging our plants to grow so
well.

i'm sure it helps! was it a mix of worm
species or one?


Now I need to order something that attacks stink bugs.

nothing that i know of. hand picking and dropping
them in slightly soapy water works ok, but i don't
see many of them around here so i've not bothered to
do that for any that i see outside. the ones that
get inside are the ones we don't like...


songbird

On 6/3/2015 8:09 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
We bought some worm eggs from Territorial in January and put them in the
raised beds and the fence border beds. Poking around in both the other
day and the earthworms seem to be having a party in there. Lots and lots
of worms around now, may be what's encouraging our plants to grow so
well.

i'm sure it helps! was it a mix of worm
species or one?


Now I need to order something that attacks stink bugs.

nothing that i know of. hand picking and dropping
them in slightly soapy water works ok, but i don't
see many of them around here so i've not bothered to
do that for any that i see outside. the ones that
get inside are the ones we don't like...


songbird

I think it was just common earthworms, would have to look it up in the
catalog. If I remember it tomorrow I will. Right now I've got a little
dawg snoring in my lap and she hates to be awakened.

We're both tired and boss lady is at the church ladies meeting so we
ain't moving while we have the chance to be lazy.

George Shirley wrote:

....what kind of worm...

I think it was just common earthworms, would have to look it up in the
catalog. If I remember it tomorrow I will. Right now I've got a little
dawg snoring in my lap and she hates to be awakened.

We're both tired and boss lady is at the church ladies meeting so we
ain't moving while we have the chance to be lazy.

it's a dawgs life. i know, i get days like that here
too, where i'm just tired and it feels good to sit and
read or take a nap, or just watch the clouds roll by.
sometimes i even remember to think of what the clouds
look like or to make up stories about castles in the
clouds. my first roomie at college used to draw some
really interesting castles in the clouds. i should
ask him if he remembers that...


songbird