Earthworms in your garden

You want earthworms in your garden. They are a critical sign that all is well and that you are on the right track to gaining and maintaining good soil health.

When you move into a new garden or you are starting a new garden (or checking out your existing garden), it is always worth digging a shovel in as deep as you can go, turning the soil over and having a look at how many worms are in the shovel clod. This is a simple guide to what you need to do next.

Worms are like ‘canaries’ for monitoring soil health.

But firstly, why are earthworms so beneficial to your garden.

Earthworms improve your soil by creating tunnels and loosening the soil, providing pathways for air and water to penetrate. Increasing porosity can also improve soil drainage, reducing soil erosion on the surface and also improving soil drainage. Tunnels also provide channels for root growth.

They accelerate the decomposition process and mix soil for more benefits. By breaking apart organic matter, earthworms loosen the soil and increase the water holding capacity of the soil.

Worms eat everything in their path, decaying matter, bacteria, fungi and other soil bugs that can cause a host of problems in your garden.

Worm poop (castings but also known as vermicast) are one of the best soil conditioners and fertilisers available to soil. It is believed that worms can turn over the top 20cm of soil within 10 years.

A natural abundance of earthworms in your garden indicates the overall health of your soil.

A lot of gardens I visit have little to no worms, so if your garden is the same, do not despair, there are several ways you can attract more of them into your garden.

1. Keep pesticides and herbicides to a minimum: obviously this is a no brainer, over use of chemicals will cause all manner of problems in your garden
2. Create a hospitable environment: earthworms are fairly low maintenance once established. They prefer a cool, dark and moist spot to live with plenty of organic matter to consume. Mulching your garden will help retain moisture that both earthworms and your plants will thrive in. Providing lots of compost and organic matter to your soil will keep them fed. I always add aged manure and or compost to every plant that goes into the ground.
3. Leaving your soil undisturbed is beneficial: conventional gardening methods involves digging the ground to work in compost and manure to existing soil. However, this can disturb and damage the existing life in the soil. Unless your soil is really rocky, heavy clay or starving of nutrients, I suggest you try layering the compost and manure on top then mulch last.
4. I have read articles about buying worms for your garden – Im not so sure about this, if you are creating the perfect environment for worms, they always move in on their own. If you introduce worms before your garden is ready they will most likely die. Dont forget to check the pH, either too acidic or too alkaline can deter earthworms as well.

If all you do is increase the organic matter in your soil with well composted manure, you are just about guaranteed to increase the worm life in your garden and in doing so will improve the health and growth of your plants.