Tom Carey: Squiggly garden helpers

Red wiggler earthworms (Eisenia fetidae) and their numerous cousins create more of what we recognize as black topsoil than most other natural systems. Their voracious appetite and sex drive lead to a worldwide distribution in almost every environment. Drawing from an instinct dawned during our childhoods; most of us recognize the benefits that worms have for our gardens.

With sex organs appearing as a lumpy protuberance a few segments behind their mouths, worms are asexual. After a pair mates, cocoons are released into the soil, eventually hatching into miniature adults. Immense populations will quickly build in a suitable terrain. Too bad our sandy soils and weather here in Central Florida are not conductive to the extremes of the rich soil creators of a Midwest prairie.

Food scraps wasted to the trashcan or sink disposal destined for a garbage dump or sewage plant create very toxic by-products, especially greenhouse gases of methane and hydrogen sulfide. By feeding our homestead food scraps to our localized worms, we save energy and money in numerous transport systems, pollution control devices, and overflowing landfills. Cumulatively speaking, think of all the large and noisy trucks that pick up our trash that could be eliminated from our highways.

Only a few species of earthworms lend themselves to confined propagation. Shallow burrowing, sufficient reproduction, and temperature tolerance traits are needed to build a family-scaled worm operation. Collecting surface refugees after a heavy rain will not bring success to eager vermicomposters, but will provide a few braggart boys with the means to scare their little sisters (or visa-versa).

Bins, boxes and tubs made of anything but metal are the most industrious formats to take advantage of the marvelous recycling habits of earthworms. Puncture homemade enclosures with plenty of holes for air circulation and drainage and line the inside with window screen. Manufactured worm farms and starter populations are available locally in Apopka at Our Vital Earth (1-800-237-4780).

Worm farms are much more compact and efficient than a compost pile. Turn food scraps, sans meat and dairy, into the top few inches of the bin’s medium. An optional surface mulch of shredded newspaper helps to loosen the tilth and absorbs excess moisture. Irrigate the operation a few times a week preferably with rainwater. The collected lumpy castings are the world’s best fertilizer. Tannin colored ‘tea’ that drains from a bottom spout can be applied directly to plants (I chide guests to my garden that I prefer my earthworm tea flavored with lemon over sugar). Of all the projects I tread, worm farming is the one I stress beyond a mere suggestion!