They DO exist! Those Wonderful Worms!

I remember when I was a kid... out late on Saturday night in the rain with flashlight in tow, my dad not far away as we scoured the lawn looking for nightcrawlers resting on the surface. We were going fishing the next morning.

"Don't shine the light on them or they'll hide" he would warn. The untimate treasure hunt was on.

"I got a big one!" I would rasp across the lawn, in my loudest whisper (so as not to scare the worms of course). "I got another one! Wow, dad, they're EVERYWHERE!"

Can it be true???

The memories came flooding back sending a smile to my lips and chills up my spine as I turned my compost pile this week, unveiling dozens of worms, and in the mix, the elusive nightcrawlers. I couldn't believe it! THEY DO EXIST! I haven't seen worms that size since I was a kid, some the size of a Sharpie! As it turns out, I'm not the only one who loves compost   : )

5" nightcrawler from my compost pile!

The weather has finally turned (welcome, Summer!) and now is a good time to get out there and turn your compost pile. Chances are pretty good that if it's been sitting there all winter, most - if not all - of it can be used directly in your garden & flowerbeds. If it is not quite finished, you can sift it (use 1" hardware cloth, 1/2" if finer siftings are needed) and put the bigger chunks back in the compost pile and let the worms work their magic!

That lawn will also be needing a good haircut, so start a new pile with those clippings.

NOTE:

Compost grass clippings & yard waste, EXCEPT for clippings from lawns where weed-n-feed products or herbicides (weed killers) have been used.  Technically you can compost those clippings, but they should sit for a couple years, and don't use them on/around edibles, or you can send them out with your yard debris recycling.

Hens are mixing the pile...

The hens do their part to keep the compost piles working; funny that they will gobble up the smaller worms, but are not quite sure what to do with the big ones! Really, the nightcrawlers are huge - they're the size of snakes so I would be a bit leary, too!

Keep composting and be kind to your worms - they do great things for your garden.

Dad! Let's go fishin'!

PEAS OUT!
~GP