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Town and country gardening supplies |
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Garden Worm CastingsWorm Castings Charles Darwin called earthworms "the intestines of the soil" because so much material travels through their gut on the way to becoming soil humus and plant food. After decades of dependence on chemical agriculture, we're seeing a resurgence of appreciation among gardeners, food growers and consumers for organic methods and for good organic fertilisers, worm castings being the finest! "Within a single 10 milligram earthworm cast there are several billion bacteria of perhaps 500 to several thousand species, comprising of about 90% of the weight of the cast. Another 5% is composed of fungi, nematodes and other critters, plus tiny bits of decomposing matter that worms have eaten." Kelly Slocum A worm casting is best described as a biological care package, bringing a lot of organisms to the soil. These organisms hold plant nutrients inside them in the structures of their bodies. As they excrete or die, nutrients are delivered to the surrounding soil particles, and hungry plants' roots will take them in. When higher level decomposers make meals out of other organisms, nature has set things up so that up there is plenty of nitrogen rich waste products that plants can use. Plants order these, just as we order food in a restaurant, by excreting through their roots foods to be eaten by critters that excrete what plants want! The addition of worm castings delivers a supply of nutrients to the soil, but, more importantly, it delivers the materials that store nutrients until needed by plants. It is worth noting that adding chemical fertilisers is a very different thing, because it is soluble, and is not bound onto soil particles or stored in organisms' bodies. As a result, it leaches through the soil and into groundwater. How to use worm Castings Castings, unlike compost should only go where the plants are. They're more concentrated plant fertiliser, much more valuable. They typically don't provide the bulk organic value of compost, and so you'll want to use castings only around the root zone of plants, and for the most benefit, feed during their growing season. When planting in a hole use castings as 5-20% of your planting mix. Tender leafy plants like lettuce don't want as much, while heavy fruiting and flowering plants like tomatoes seem to benefit from more. Use the same mix when planting seeds in a row.
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