Worms in MM??

My dh made a comment last night that made me wonder, can worms be added into the MM to have a constant replenishing of compost? I know they are all over the place in my regular soil. Has anyone tried this before??

Most of us do.....look for a post called Worm Tube (I think that is what it is called) that kid (Josh) has a complicated system for keeping worms, really fun looking, but they live on occasional fresh compost. Which means that you have to feed the little compost machines.

Oh yes, worms are most welcome in my garden!!!!

jymarino wrote:My dh made a comment last night that made me wonder, can worms be added into the MM to have a constant replenishing of compost? I know they are all over the place in my regular soil. Has anyone tried this before??

Here is a link to WORM TUBE

You will enjoy this!

Also, if you have worms in your soil, they will find their way into your MM in time. And, they will breed like rabbits. I guess, provided you don't have a weedblock of some kind underneath your beds. In that case, yes, add them at will.

My kids like to dig up worms now. I tell them to just toss the wormies in the boxes and go hunt more. I'm relocating worms like industrial salesmen.

Ok, I feel foolish for asking this, but is it possible to have too many worms in your boxes over time? If so, do you have to dump out some of the mix and start again?

It is not likely you will have too many worms. When ever I find earthworms around the place, I always take them to either the garden or to the finished compost pile. One can never have too many worms.

Oh yeah! I was hoping that worms would be a good thing. Guess what the kiddos will be doing soon for science class? : )

Is it better to just use the worms I find or should I try to obtain some of extras? I think the kid with the worm compost tube had red wigglers, but they aren't native to STL. Should I get some of them?

BBG I thought that the correct SFG way was to have weedblock under your beds. Did I misunderstand? I may have to use some of my own native soil in some of the beds but plan to at least do one the "right" way.

Camprn that good to know. I had the terrible thought that if you went overboard with the worms there were so many that I'd pull out a carrot and there could be worms crawling all over it! Ewwww!

If there is a ready food supply they will reproduce well. Earth worm access is onereason I did not put weed barrier on the bottom of my boxes. They will be allowed to migrate in and out of the garden. If you have weed barrier on the bottom of your boxes, no worries; if you find native earthworms just take them to your garden, dig a shallow hole and drop them in.

jymarino wrote:BBG I thought that the correct SFG way was to have weedblock under your beds. Did I misunderstand? I may have to use some of my own native soil in some of the beds but plan to at least do one the "right" way.

There are some hard and fast rules for setting up your SFG, true. But, I never interpreted the book as making weedblock a requirement....just a suggestion. There are plenty of people a little south of us struggling with bermuda grasses. And, there are people struggling with voles and moles, too. For those people, weedblock is definitely a must.

However, if I remember correctly, Mel said the beauty of a raised bed is that we can just dump the MM on top of the grass and we are done. My fescues and bluegrasses have never been an issue as long as I'm 5-6 inches deep.

However, this season, my tomato bed was put on top of a bunch of bulbs. I noticed this at the last possible minute. I dug up what I could.....because Daffodils, Hyacinths, Irises, Daylillies, etc, are some very strong pushers. But, I missed one....and he's now poking his head up through my MM. He is coming out, though, like an abscessed tooth. BANG! Out he goes. That would be another reason for weedblock....if one so desires.....not knowing what is actually underneath your new bed.