Worms: The Doctors of Soil

Cultivate Tips and Tricks

Worms: The Doctors of Soil

By Megan Lowder

For decades, conventional methods of tackling problems have taught us to treat the symptoms rather than look for their causes.

That headache may be a symptom of dehydration, but the quick fix is to take an ibuprofen. The same tactics have been used in conventionalgardening. Conventional gardening is all about bug control. How do I get rid of cucumber beetles? How do Iget rid of caterpillars? For many decades, we’ve relied on the use of pesticides, which has evolved into “natural” pesticides in organic gardening. In an attempt to kill one type of bug, we kill them all–not only the bugs we can see, but the microorganisms as well. Rather than diagnosing the root cause of the problem, we spray pesticides on the leaves of a plant to kill the bugs. The answer to healthy and nutritious plants is in the soil. Soil is the plant’s immune system, its food source and protection. Without good soil, plants can’t thrive and bugs attack the weakest link (usually the leaves??). The bugs are a product of what we’ve been sold to kill off the bugs, but in the garden world of poison treatments, only the strongest survive. It’s not the ladybugs or the praying mantids that live despite the poison. It takes decades to turn soil into dirt. Luckily, it doesn’t take as long to amend the soil, but it is a process that does take time. This is where worms come in! Worms are the doctors of soil health. Soil is alive and it needs tending, just like a pet. Soil must be fed food that it likes, it needs to be protected and kept in balance.

The first step to restoring life back to the soil isadding a microberich tea– most popularly called “worm tea”. These new microbesneed to be protected and kept alive. They also needsomething to eat in their new home. This can be done by “mulching” the soil. This aerated layer gives the microbes protection and a food source to decompose. As the microbes break down the mulched layer, nutrients are added to the soil from the decomposed material. Healthy soil also calls for fungi. I bury mushroom blocks in my garden to encourage mycorrhizal fungi and I get the bonus of? gourmet edible mushroom fruits in my garden. Even if you don’t catch the fruit in time to consume them?, your garden “pets” will love to eat the mushrooms, which will add further to your soil health.

Now that you’ve added your micro decomposers to your soil, the indicator of balance in your soil will be worms. Worms are soft, vulnerable, and only thrive in a perfect environment. Their health is a gage of the balance of your soil health. Worms can be kept outside the garden in a bin, or inside the garden in a pod-like dug out. Efficient Earthling offers both of these worm-related services as well as consultations.

You can find them on Instagram or Facebook @efficientearthling.

Adding microbe-rich worm tea is proven to show immediate results. But replenishing? soil health takes years of care and after that, it still must be maintained. Gardening should never be without bugs. There should be a balance of good bugs and bad bugs. But bad bugs won’t be attracted to weak plants. Their immune systems from the healthy soil will be so strong that the bugs won’t be able to attack any weak points.

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Clemson VID Interns

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