No worms!

frankie

I never ever see any worms in my garden and don't know whether this is a good thing.

I have been adding organic matter in the form of compost to my patch and the soil structure is well improved.

Should I see about 'importing' some worms?

forgotmyname

add compost like bags of compost? Thats not worm food.

You need to add some green waste, fruit and veg waste, worms eat the waste and you get nice compost from that.

savemoney

I get loads of worms in mine I use a mixture ofgreen waste, a few broken bits of twigs from Autumn pruning and also add shredded paper/cardboard not bits that are glossy. I always have a abundance of worms in mine

bertiewhite

You could try adding some horse manure? There's always red worms (brandlings?) in that

Davesnave

bertiewhite wrote: »

You could try adding some horse manure? There's always red worms (brandlings?) in that

The worms in manure are not the same species as those usually found in garden soil, so they may not transfer too well. It's generally true, though, that adding organic matter will boost the worm count. Reducing acidity also helps, apparently.

We have more worms than we used to have, maybe due to adding much organic matter. More recently, we've also lost many moles to last years dry summer, which may have helped. The blackbirds are a mixed blessing too, but they sing beautifully, so I pretend not to notice the number of wiggly pals they pick off in a day!

-taff

You'd be surprised where they could be. I watched a big fat worm escaping the cats claws last night by disappearing in between two concrete blocks, and I regularly see worm casts on the lawn in the winter [ not so much in the summer]

andrewf75

Its definitely a bad thing if you don't have them, but I'm sure you do....

unless you're doing something seriously wrong they will come without importing them

DigForVictory

Try worm charming before being adamant you are without them?
We work charm most years as a scout fundraiser & it's great fun!
The link shows you the whys & hows!

Farway

andrewf75 wrote: »

Its definitely a bad thing if you don't have them, but I'm sure you do....

unless you're doing something seriously wrong they will come without importing them

Agree, if you're adding compost / organic matter they'll arrive as if by magic. This time of year they are often deep down away form the cold