I couldn't have done it without the worms...

The compost area is the heart of my garden, where four or more enormous heaps are at work at any given moment. And where my worms are working, too. Most everything will cycle through the compost heaps at one time or another, to be ultimately placed back in the beds. A couple times a week, I take the kitchen compost bucket out to the heaps. Nothing organic goes out for trash pick up, except maybe rose leaves with black spot or a nasty invasive weed or two. The idea is to create an on-going continuous loop: to compost from garden and kitchen, from compost to garden and kitchen. You get the idea... With the help of the compost, mulch, and worms I've transformed 95% of the lawns into perennial beds, rose beds, vegetable garden, and shrub borders.

To make a new bed, I peel off the lawn grass with a garden spade and then layer the grass chunks on the compost heap, with the soil and roots facing up. It breaks down into fabulous stuff. Then I spread a couple inches of compost on the exposed soil where I peeled off the grass, and mulch with shredded leaves. The worms like the leaves. They devour them, pulling them down into the soil, creating Black Gold as they go. Sometimes, to make a new bed, I just spread a 1-inch layer of (wet) newspapers right on the lawn and cover it with several inches of mulch and compost, wait a few months, and then dig a big hole through the layers, mixing in lots of compost, and tuck in a plant. You won't ever see me struggling with a rototiller. Nope. Noisy, nasty things. They don't go deep enough anyway, worms get cut, and you end up compacting the soil as you trudge along behind. Sort of a sound and fury that only irritates the neighbors. Better to foster worms in your soil and let them do the soil-moving work. I read somewhere that worms can burrow down 18 feet. Imagine the tunnels they are making for water to percolate through. This is good news for plants! Here at my site, you can learn about compost and why it's important. And the importance of worms. Maybe you'll be inspired start your own vermicomposting adventure. Related Web Links are below...

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Worm Digest Shady Character Jonathan's Worm Farm 101 Gardening Links Virtual Seeds McConomy Horticultural Services The Wigglin N JB's Pond Forum Garden Guides Avant-Gardening: Creative Organic Gardening suza's plant pix at Webshots

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