Page 30 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

Earthworms
This story was about increasing worm
numbers by managing an “Earthworm
Hotel”. With the existence of so many
different kinds of worms, the difficulties
of overseeing a wormery and the
undesirable heavy work of rotating a
compost heap helped decide that this
expectant idea required a review.
The soil in my allotment is in good
order. Based on a strict three-year rotation
including both deep and shallow rooted
plants and the reusing of organic matter in
combination with the artificial fertilizer that
I rely on.
Fertilizer prices have risen dramatically.
The plan is to further improve the fertility of
my soil and make it less reliant on bagged
chemicals to continue producing tolerable
yields of vegetables.
I measure the quality of my soil in two
ways:
1. By the value of vegetables that I
reliably produce to local exhibition
standards and in specific cases
good enough to exhibit at National
shows.
2. By keeping a count of the worm
numbers that I notice when digging
in the humus full soil.
The common earthworm is largely
considered “a friend to the gardener”. I
was looking to write a simple story, about
managing to some degree an “Earthworm
Hotel”. This hopeful idea soon vanished
with the knowledge of the presence of
so many different kinds of worms. The
problems of managing a wormery and
the undesirable heavy work of turning a
compost heap helped decide that both
methods of increasing worm numbers were
currently too problematic to achieve.
It is good to have lots of worms in your
garden.
Acquiring worms is not necessary.
Already they are present in sufficient
numbers and it can cause more harm than
good when moving them from one site to
another.
In the main, earthworms are of great
benefit to the Gardner. By tunnelling, they
Earthworms
30 Simply Vegetables
Compost Heap
help to aerate the soil dragging leaves
and other vegetable matter into the loam,
helping it to provide humus. In addition
to their earth improving assets, their
burrowing and tunnelling aids aeration and
lessens compaction.
They thrive in most soils that are already
rich in humus and are scarcer in number
on land that is dry and sandy.
WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST USEFUL
TYPES OF WORMS FOR A GARDEN?
1. The Compost earthworms
These worms do not build borrows.
They are weak diggers and prefer
to live in decaying organic matter
and loose loam on the soil surface.
Feeding in heaps of leaves on the
top layers of the soil itself. When
conditions are right, they can eat
just about their own weigh of
compost in a day.
2. The common working worms
These worms include the most
common types of earthworms and
are often whoppers and used for
fishing bait. They live deep in the soil
in permanent burrows travelling in
the direction of ground level to feed
on organic matter and fallen leaves
which they drag down into their
burrows. They live deep in the earth,
down to half a metre as a minimum
and even deeper in dry soils. Safely
consuming decaying plant and
animal reserves they are important
to soil structure and fertility.
Mulched Bush
Compost ready to spread
3. The Root-dwelling worms
Known as Gray earthworms,
because of their colour, they work in
the top soil helping root growth and
the spread of water. Often feeding
at night on any dead plant material
found resting on the surface, they
will pull fallen leaves and other
plant debris into their tunnels. As an
effect of their actions, they can be
considered a pest where their casts
are thrown onto lawns or in the
loose soil of a seed bed if it has not
been firmed enough.
How to encourage a worm population
to multiply. Large numbers are unseen
in the soil, along with vast numbers of
bacteria, fungi and other buried masses
of workers. Counting worm numbers
is my only predictable measure of the
soil health. In most parts of the garden,
other than the lawn, the worm population
can be improved by giving generous
coverings of dung, peat, leaf mould and
decayed vegetable refuse to boost them
to increase. Worms thrive on soils which
are free draining and not very acidic. Their
inhabitance being improved by a modest
dressing of lime
I have no need for the inhabitants of a
proposed “Earthworm Hotel” to improve
the output from my allotment. Worms are
already there in good numbers, eagerly
waiting for moisture and lime levels to be
maintained and additional manure to feed
and refresh my soil.
Ron Nuttall
Mulching around trees