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So I hear Worms in Gardens, Worms In compost and even adding worms What gets me confused is that its used in a positive way, Can Someone tell me how Worms play a part in Gardening?[/b]

There are so many functions that worms perform in the subsurface and in compost, that a 25-word answer and a box top just won't do justice to the topic.

I just now performed a "Search the Forum" on "earthworms" and got 581 hits.

My "Search the Forum" for "red wigglers" got 85 hits.

Other searches of use might be Eisenia fetida/foetida, E. fetida/foetida, or compost worms.

Please also see the entire book section on Teaming with Microbes, a discussion held from approx. August through October 2010, but still active whenever someone re-reads a chapter or falls across the book for the first time: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=43

By the way, have you ever taken a look at Sunset's Western Garden Book, which [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40601]I recommended to you[/url] a few weeks back? Many of your questions are answered in that book.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

In the time of Charles Darwin people thought worms were pests. But Darwin suspected they were misunderstood and he devoted his last days to studying the worm and his final book was about the worm, titled: The formation of vegetable mould: through the action of worms, with observations on their habits https://books.google.com/books/about/The_formation_of_vegetable_mould.html?id=mlUXAAAAYAAJ

Among other benefits, earthworms aerate the soil; there is absolutely no need to till with a healthy population of worms. I've read a few books about worms and many other very interesting facts...

Yeah, I had a post here that got lost. Worms are in compost because they are an important part of the process of breaking down all the stuff in the pile into nutrients that are accessible to plants. And as noted they loosen and aerate the soil and leave channels that water can travel through. All together very valuable in the garden and compost pile.

Well the Book might be out of my reach for now, but I guess from the rest of the information, worms help out on decomposing and helping plants by making water ways, I guess ama have to do more reserch on those, and maybe throw some worms in my garden

OROZCONLECHE wrote:... and maybe throw some worms in my garden

There are two basic flaws in that approach. 1. You must ensure that you purchase the correct worm for the environment you'd like to introduce them to; there are two basic types of worms, The Red Wiggler, which primarily lives in leaf litter and is the perferred type for compost/vermicomposting. And 2. the earthworm that lives in the ground, some call Nightcrawler. They look basically the same, but they do require two completly different environments.

From what I've heard, most bait shops sell Red Wigglers, so if you buy them and throw in your garden, they'll die, unless you got tons of mulch, especially leaf-type mulch, but most gardens don't have this. Secondly, if they are the ground burrowing-type earthworms, you have to ask yourself why you don't already have them? I know why I don't, because the soil is not healthy enough to support them; if I were to buy earthworms and place in my garden, they'd just die. The soil is just too sandy and devoid of organic matter.

That is why I'm trying to change my soil so that it can support earthworms. I've been pretty sucessful under my trees with all the mulching I've done, now I've got healthy populations of both the red wigglers and earthworms; I also got tons in my compost.

However, my garden areas are tougher areas to develop, since they've been sun-beaten for years, as opposed to my mulched/compost areas, which have been shaded and been the recipient of all the various nutrients that fall from the trees. But what's different now is that I heavily mulch these areas, whereas before I'd mow in these areas which would put a heavy strain on the soil life, including worms. I never bought a single worm, I just made a habitat and they came in large number, as well as all the other soil organisms.

BTW, here's some more benefits of the worm (copied from here: https://www.bwcnfarms.com/index.php?pr=Healthy_Living_Soil )

Why are Earthworms Important?


Earth worms are not only the most recognizable of all the animals in the soil food web, but also one of the most important to gardening and farming. According to a study done by Cornell University (2007), “Large macroscopic organisms such as earthworms…are important for improving aggregation, soil drainage, and aeration due to their burrowing/-channeling nature.â€

BTW, I've noticed that people often use the incorrect terms to describe the various types of worms and I may have also made that mistake; if that's the case let me link this to clear up any mistake I may have made in worm species and their favored environment: https://mypeoplepc.com/members/arbra/bbb/id17.html