Go Wild for Worms in Your Garden

Wild for Worms is a celebration and recognition of the garden worm. In this year’s (2018) Wild About Gardens Week the RHS and Wildlife Trusts have a ‘Go Wild for Worms’ theme. And quite rightly so. Worms are critical for the health of our soils. And without a healthy soil we wouldn’t be able to grow food crops and beautiful flowers.

Charles Darwin studied earthworms in his garden. and had this to say about them: –

“It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures.”

6 Facts about Worms

Worms are invertebrates, ie they do not have a backbone
Despite the name ‘earthworm’ they don’t all live in the soil
There are 29 species of indigenous worm in the British Isles
Cutting a worm in half doesn’t give you 2 worms, just 1 dead worm
A worm can eat its weight in soil in a day
Worms absorb oxygen through their skin

Earthworms are recyclers, part of the nutrient cycle. The scientific name for this is a detritivore.
Worms eat the decaying plant and animal matter in the soil, compost bin or soil surface. This they then release into the soil as highly nutritious worm casts (or worm poop if you prefer!) By breaking down this organic material they improve the fertility of the soil.

As the worm burrows through the soil it mixes earth and decomposing matter. The burrows created help to aerate the soil and improve its composition. An abundance of earthworms is a good sign and means your soil is able to support plant life.

Encouraging Worms in your Garden

Worms are a critical element of the food web in your garden, your allotment, in agriculture, in parks and green spaces. Everywhere in fact. They eat decomposing material and are in turn eaten by garden birds, Robins and Blackbirds, for example. And by other helpful garden predators such as frogs, moles and hedgehogs.

Tips

Many worm species live in other habitats than soil, such as decaying deadwood or compost bins. Include these in your garden to give a variety of habitats for different worms.

Avoid or at least reduce chemical usage; for example, pesticides such as metaldehyde-based slug pellets are bad for earthworms.

Leave some disease-free decaying leaves and small twigs on the soil in the borders.

After mowing the lawn, leave grass clippings lying. This is worm food and is good for your lawn too. If after every mow is too much, even doing so one cut in three will help.

Have a wormery, a compost bin, a leaf mould bin. This should reduce your waste going to landfill and improve your garden soil. Which means better flowers, shrubs, fruit and vegetables for you.

Worm Farms

I’m not a total fan of worm farms, and indoor glass wormeries. I’d rather the creatures were outside. But they do have their uses in encouraging children to become fascinated with these essential invertebrates. You can purchase one or make your own at home.

DIY Worm Farm

You’ll need –

a small aquarium or large jar, with plenty of aeration holes in the top
soft sand
garden soil
worms
vegetable scraps
dead plant material, eg leaves
a dark place to keep the worms

Method –

Layer soil and sand; moisten
Add some worms from your garden, compost bin or outdoor wormery. The latter two are the better worm species for this experiment
Top with a few vegetable scraps, chopped small and dead leaves
Put in a coolish, dark place such as a cupboard. Or cover with brown paper
Take photo at the beginning, and every day for comparison

The worms will start mixing the layers fairly quickly. However, they’ll take a couple of days to drag the food down from the surface. Only refresh food source once the previous batch has been eaten.

And please release the worms back to their outdoor environment when the kids begin to get tired of the worm farm, or if you see any sign of mould.

Go Wild for Worms and Wild About Gardens Week

Wild About Gardens Week is a joint initiative by the Royal Horticultural Society and The Wildlife Trusts. It seeks to encourage people to support wildlife in their gardens and to celebrate wildlife gardening. Each year they focus on a particular aspect of garden wildlife, in 2018, it’s the turn of earthworms. You may like to look at the British Earthworm Society’s website for further information.

If you would like Plews to design a Wildlife friendly garden for you or you’d like a Conservation Advice Visit to review what you currently have – why not get in touch?