The best kind! I love worms in my garden. When I see them on sidewalks - even downtown, I always try to move them out to the grassy or bare soil area.

One way to get a lot more of them is adding compost and mulch. They'll come in great number. When you make a new bed, cover the area with newspaper or cardboards. Worms love it. Don't have to spray before spreading paper. Wet it down, then layer any organic materials over the entire surface.

Have fun.
Congrats. :-)

That's what we've been doing since we moved out here. We don't have dirt, we have sand - pure, white sand. Last year when we had the new well drilled they went down 68 feet before they hit ANYTHING except pure, white sand! Just about the only thing you can say about the place is that we have got amazing drainage!

Since we moved here we have been hauling truckloads of spoiled straw and hay mixed with horse manure that is cleaned out of the stalls of a big riding stable in our county. It's free for the hauling - you just have to pick up the full trailer, empty it where you want the stuff, and take the trailer back ASAP. We've lost ALL track of how much of this stuff we have packed in here.

Right now there is a mound about 60 feet long by 8-10 feet wide by 4-5 feet high waiting to be tilled into the vegetable garden. It has been accumulating (and composting) all winter. There are also two other big piles of the stuff composting at either end of the cleared part of our place. I've pitched tons of it into my so-called flower beds and it just seems to melt away.

Worms just don't seem to like our grit - can't blame 'em. So it was a thrill to find that little guy burrowing around in the almost completely decomposed layer of mulch from last fall. I've actually threatened to go steal worms from a guy we know who has lots of them on his place. Now, maybe I won't be reduced to midnight worm rustling!

I understand, and that is exciting! :-)
I can testify to the cardboard and worms...even putting thick layers of newspaper in a spot that is the worse dirt ever seems to bring the worms.
Put it down, and they will come!
May you have many more worms,
Linda

lindakimy, worms also LOVE coffee grounds. Maybe a nearby restaurant will save them for you. We don't have a Starbucks where I live, but the nice people at Shoney's save them for me. We go in every 2 or 3 days and pick up several 5-gallon buckets of used grounds.

Congratulations on your worm! That's great news. The area I live in is a lot like yours--my uncle may have drilled as deep as 60 feet before giving up on putting in a well--but here we do have a thin layer of black sandy sandy (maybe I need to put one more "sandy?") topsoil, and a lot of worms. Everywhere a mole/vole makes a hill, it's pure sand. I have to remove the hill, dig down a bit, and then find some topsoil to fill in.

Who's the guy with all the worms? Does he live nearby? If he'd just give you a bag of leaves from last year--stuff that sat around and got wet and a little rotted--that will have oodles of worm eggs and babies in it.

Pitimpinai, we're both members (maybe the only ones) of the worm-savers club! I was doing exactly that this morning, moving worms so the foot traffic wouldn't squish the guys.

Oh, for Pete's sakes, Linda...it's a worm. (WINK)

IT'S A WORM!
IT'S A WORM!

HOORAY FOR LINDA! SHE'S GOT A WORM!

I truly am excited for you. How cool is that. What I take for granted around here, I realize is true cause for excitement in other parts of the country. EVERYONE should have worms. There just shouldn't be a place where worms aren't.

Maybe he's just a scout. Now if that little worm will just tell all his little worm-buddies that it's all good...all is safe...BRING EM ON!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

LOL! I'm hoping he IS the scout and that a whole wagon train of pioneer-type worms are on their way!

I just believe that worms are really, really good for the ground. And we can use all the help we can get with this sandbox we're playing in!

New yard, I have yet to actually plant anything into the ground. Going to buy a tiller next week to get all the veggie and flower beds ready for the WS babies.
But going back to the topic of the post. I was scraping wallpaper, painting and tossing away things in the 2nd bedroom, was too pooped to carry the 3 bags of garbage all the way to the garage; (3am) so I set them just outside the sunroom door on the patio. Well to my surprise the next morning when I went to move the bags I had at LEAST 30 worms under the bags.
I can understand your excitement; I was doing the happy dance myself when I seen all those wigglies. Lets me know I should be starting with at least a half healthy yard.

Cinda, maybe you don`t really need a rototiller if you don`t want to hurt those worms. How about checking out this no till method?

Here is a link that might be useful: Instant beds with no till method

pitimpinai

I would!.. I think it is a wonderful, healthy idea for a garden bed.. but I can't do the shovel digging anymore, except for small jobs because of health reasons, and hubby works 6 days a week, 12 hour days, so not fair to ask him on his one day off.

Buying a good rear tine tiller so I can still be independant and do my gardening myself.

There is absolutely no need for digging if you don`t want to. Donn`s digging & flipping sod is only one option. You don`t need to follow it to the letter. I don`t do it that way. I just laid paper over the defined area, wet it, then layered organic matters....no digging whatsoever. I use bricks or landscape lumber or whatever I had to keep things confined. Please check out the no till method on the SCM forum. Save money & energy that way.

Here is a link that might be useful: No till bed