about $20.
Judging from my rose-planting, I probably have some in the yard already. However, I wanted to make sure they were distributed around the property and in the leaf compost bin.
Earthworms aerate the soil, digest organic material, and increase the sweetness and organic quality of the soil. They have calciferous glands that make the soil sweeter. They are the only creature able to do this.
Their casts are a gentle manure for the soil and their dying bodies provide another boost, since they live and love and die in droves. One ancient prig observed "They are a most venal creature."
Red wigglers live in upper part of the soil, where all plants (even trees) get their nutrition. Dew worms dig deeper. Reds are commonly used in fishing and are often raised and sold by worm farms. The dew worm has never been domesticated and must be gathered with flashlights and lightning reflexes.
Sad to say, red wigglers are aliens, brought to America by European settlers, in their plants and in the hooves of their livestock. One book argues that previously infertile soil has been made bountiful by this alien. Save that argument for the next time some Leftist argues that Europeans ruined America. "Put those Fritos down." We made America green before you were Red.
With Sassy supervising (a German trait), I distributed the earthworms around the yard. Plenty of them were left on top of soil around the roses. They hate the sun so they burrow down at once. The compost will also move earthworm populations around, since the eggs lie dormant in soil and compost until and opportune time.
The great paradox of earthworms is their love for good soil and their work in making it even better. They convert organic material, anything that has lived, so take material that will not support plants easily and turn that into worm casting, considered the ideal soil amendment.
Earthworms are not alone in this work. They are really at the top of the pyramid for soil life. An elaborate liturgy is acted out whenever things decompose. Bacteria and molds attack first, followed by creatures that live on bacteria and mold, then others that live on those little animals. Those that eat get eaten, including the least of these, the earthworm.
The least? Have you heard someone called a centipede as an insult? Or - "I never want to see you again, you pillbug!"
Everything seems to like earthworms, living and dead. Birds perch on my compost pile waiting for something wiggling. Moles love them alive; ants haul them away dead.
No civilization has prospered without good soil. The Egyptians made killing an earthworm a crime, whether they distinguished between accidental and malice prepense - I do not know. They knew their entire civilization rested upon the flooding of the Nile, the happiness of their earthworms.
Needless to say, this infinite round of dependencies speaks well of Creation and the Creator's infinite goodness.
John 1:1-4 KJV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Here is your free Wormhaven Gardening Book - full of projects for children to do, practical and low-cost gardening advice.
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5009355/9316696wormhaven.pdf
 |
| Double Delight rose - perfumed and bi-colored. |
