Fast Facts On Those Delightful Earthworms
Say hello to Jim - the earthworm, that is, all in a day's work for this tiny creature. You may think I've just gone out of my rocker, but these creatures actually serve a valuable purpose for every garden. You may not know that earthworms are the original gardeners, not Pithecanthropus Erectus or Cro-Magnon Man. They don't exist just for kids to eat and fishermen to use as bait.
While earthworms can be found crawling underneath just every type soil, they thrive in extremely healthy soil - betcha didn't know that. When soil is healthy, it gets a lot of air and moisture, which both help the earthworm thrive in these conditions. Earthworms have no lungs but instead breathe through their skin. That's right - their skin is capable of ingesting oxygen and letting out carbon dioxide. Too much of a good thing is never good, and that being said, too much moisture would harm, rather than help the earthworm's respiration.
To tell you frankly, a garden without earthworms is like a farm without any farmers. As earthworms tunnel through the soil they are actually tilling it. And these tunnels are responsible for letting in more air and moisture to pass through the soil, thus ensuring healthier plants that can thrive in the process. Tunnels retain water that the plants can take up and also hold air to help bacteria break down organic matter within the soil.
After digestion earthworms produce excrement about the size of a pin head. This excrement is referred to as "vermicompost" or "castings" to make it easier on the tongue, and is a surprisingly effective fertilizer. It improves properties of the soil such as porosity and moisture retention, aids plant growth and helps in the fight against pests and diseases.
You may now be asking this - how do I lure these earthworms and give my soil a gardener from Mother Nature's employ? Elementary, my dear Watson - all you need is to add more organic matter to your soil. Humans have chocolate, earthworms have organic matter, and once they get their hands on it, they won't stop till they have more of it.
Ah, that lovable little creature called the earthworm, just as essential to the everyday existence of your garden as you yourself, as they till the soil and use their castings to fertilize the soil. Add earthworms to your garden and watch your garden come alive.
While earthworms can be found crawling underneath just every type soil, they thrive in extremely healthy soil - betcha didn't know that. When soil is healthy, it gets a lot of air and moisture, which both help the earthworm thrive in these conditions. Earthworms have no lungs but instead breathe through their skin. That's right - their skin is capable of ingesting oxygen and letting out carbon dioxide. Too much of a good thing is never good, and that being said, too much moisture would harm, rather than help the earthworm's respiration.
To tell you frankly, a garden without earthworms is like a farm without any farmers. As earthworms tunnel through the soil they are actually tilling it. And these tunnels are responsible for letting in more air and moisture to pass through the soil, thus ensuring healthier plants that can thrive in the process. Tunnels retain water that the plants can take up and also hold air to help bacteria break down organic matter within the soil.
After digestion earthworms produce excrement about the size of a pin head. This excrement is referred to as "vermicompost" or "castings" to make it easier on the tongue, and is a surprisingly effective fertilizer. It improves properties of the soil such as porosity and moisture retention, aids plant growth and helps in the fight against pests and diseases.
You may now be asking this - how do I lure these earthworms and give my soil a gardener from Mother Nature's employ? Elementary, my dear Watson - all you need is to add more organic matter to your soil. Humans have chocolate, earthworms have organic matter, and once they get their hands on it, they won't stop till they have more of it.
Ah, that lovable little creature called the earthworm, just as essential to the everyday existence of your garden as you yourself, as they till the soil and use their castings to fertilize the soil. Add earthworms to your garden and watch your garden come alive.
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