What, no worms ?

[sarahkeast]

Treated myself to a couple of hours [well more than that] in the garden today after finishing up some indoor projects.

Dug what will be a hedge and raspberry bed, the first one to be 'made, so I am very pleased with myself. The area was a rubble field/dumping ground before, lots of bricks, broken glass, what I assume to be a long dead roll of roofing felt, bindweed root cement mixer drainings and general nastieness. The soil is now dug deep and looking very smooth, sieved and ready for planting tomorrow

However, in about 6 square meters I found less than 6 worms. I realise it was a pretty inhospitable place, but even so would have expected a little more evidence of life. I have 4 full compost daleks 'ready to go' [can you believe I moved that much compost when moving house ] so plan to empty one of those onto teh bed in the morning.

Any other advice or suggestions ? I am hoping to grow some fruit and flowers in the bed in front of a [new] native hedge as it is well over a meter wide in most of the length, but not too intensive cropping or anything.

Thanks

Sarah

[pelmetman]

Six worms - luxury! We bought a 50' x 25' plot of land from the farmers field attached to our garden, and I doubt we found one worm, as we soon discovered farmland is some of the most infertile soil on the planet, as modern day farming methods just require mud to hold plants in place so they can spray it with everything they think it needs. We have now had the land for three years and we have worms.
I should think you will soon have worms once you add your compost, they might well be in your compost already, ours seem to have plenty

[Nomada]

If they don't repopulate you could buy some from wriggly wrigglers. I don't see they wouldn't, not when you put the compost down though, it usually has some in, even the dalek ones.

[citizentwiglet]

Do you know if your area has problems with flatworm? They come in on foreign plants (usually from New Zealand, but not always) and decimate the worm population.

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/pr ... flatworms/

Gardener's World don't seem to think they are a real threat - they certainly are up here in Scotland, where much of Southern Scotland and the Central Belt are suffering. I found one in my garden last year - only one, which I killed (but I doubt they work alone, and they are bound to lay eggs in abundance), but have since been advised not to invest in an outdoor wormery, as the flatworms will eat the worms. They like being under things like slabs, so it's good to have some in your garden to trap the buggers. I've also been told that I'm better off with container gardening, as there is less chance of the blighters getting into containers, as long as they are rested on sharp gravel (as the flatworms don't like it), or plantings are surrounded by a trench of sharp gravel treated with an organic solution that deters them.

Since destroying my flatworm, I have seen a slight increase in earthworms in my garden, but nowhere near the level they were at a few years ago. It might not be the dreaded worm, but it's worth being on the lookout because it is spreading, by all accounts. Introducing ground beetles can help keep them under control, it seems.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[happy place]

just as a point of intreast the worms may well be deep and will not return to the surface untill we get day time temps of around 8 degrees a useless fact but still a fact

[jampot]

i thought i should have a worm- gloat (on my granddad's behalf) whilst digging over his garden today i found plenty of worms and a toad munching his way through them !