Worms

I am wondering if anyone in the Florida thread has used worms in their flower gardens. I have been in Florida for 3 months and would like to plant a flower garden in front of my house. However, the soil is the typical sand type and needs improvement. Has anyone had any success putting worms in this? Thanks, Karen

Hi Karen,

Don't put purchased worms in our sandy soil without doing anything else - they will simply die or move somewhere else. Worms improve soil by breaking down organic matter... in sandy soil they have nothing to eat. Soil life is also greatly affected by any chemicals put on the soil, generally adversely.

If you add a lot of organic matter... then worms will find their way to your flower beds and over time your soil will get better and better.

There is a very nice book called "A Cutting Garden for Florida" by Monica Brandies and Betty Mackey. They have GREAT information on growing flowers here... including which ones thrive, when to plant them, and how to make your soil better. Monica wrote another book called "Florida Gardening : Newcomer's Survival Manual " and that one had great info, too. Your local library probably has both of them.

Hope this helps,
Diane in south Hillsborough

http://home.earthlink.net/~hidiane2/dianesgarden/

Thanks so much for the great advice Diane. I will get that book and I have already seen the Newcomers one. You've been very helpful! Karen

hey neighbor, just popped in to say hi and welcome to dg. debi

Thanks Thanks so much Debi, I feel like I am in heaven!! Karen

you are! we all are! or maybe you mean about being in florida? well, that's heaven too.

Lol, I meant gardening in Florida compared to Massachusetts. Eden!! Karen

karen, even when i lived in the keys where it was all coral rock and no worms, whenever i amended an area with a really good mixture that i concocted myself, within a few months the worms would appear. i had tons of earthworms, even in my big potted plants. whenever i had to repot i had to be careful and scoop them up and put them back. if you have been to any nurseries in our area, i would love to hear about them. we have been up here a year, but i haven't had time to visit any except one in mt.dora and of course, hd and lowes. debi

That is good to hear Debi. So far I have been to Clermont to B.B Brown's Nursery. It is a very interesting place where the couple who run it do only native plants that attract butterflies. They have classes and will design gardens too. Karen

Karen, in the leaf mulch under larger trees there are tons of worms. I have a large camphor tree in the middle of one of my decks, and digging through there I almost felt guilty about each time I stuck the shovel in again. I know I must have wiped out a dozen out with each shovel full. Build it, they will come....
MerryMary :)

I'm apparently on the same karmic path as MerryMary when it comes to worms. I feel like I need to ask their forgiveness whenever I am about to put a shovel in my soil as I know I will end up killing some of them and I do respect and value their contribution to my gardening efforts.

I agree with the comments above and have had the same experience. Each time my nearby neighbors have their yards raked and mowed, I rush to the curb and haul all their bags of leaves, pine needles, and grass clippings over to my yard and dump them into my yard. I've had up to about 1 ft of this kind of mulch in my curbside flower beds. The worms have come to feast happily. In our hot, humid, sub-tropical climate, it only takes about 6 months of activity by the bacteria, fungus, beetles, and worms to break down a foot of mulch into rich soil. The heavy mulch, of course, also helps control weed growth. I'm constantly combing my neighborhood for the treasure of "brown gold" in the bags of leaves my neighbors toss out.

Jeremy

Whenever I gather the bags of leaves, etc., left for the trash - I think about the book, "Mulch", by Ann Ripley. It didn't get great reviews... but I enjoyed it just for the leaf gathering references. The heroine finds more than leaves in her collected bags - gruesome but funny at the same time. It is a murder mystery...

I think the images will stay in my brain permanently... kind of like what "Jaws" did about going in salt water... especially if someones does that shark approaching noise as I am going in.

It may be gruesome and may not have had great reviews, but a lot of writers allude to this more gruesome work of worms. Shakespeare is one with his characters like Mercutio and Hamlet. My students become fascinated by "Thanatopsis" which points out that there are more people in the earth than on the earth. Literature is actually pretty full of worm references. Maybe that's why we have these super sealed metal caskets today.

I will be looking for mulches from clippings from my neighbors. Thanks so much for the idea!

This may sound strange, but I actually like the thought of becoming "one" with the earth after I die. The circle of life and all that. Karen

a friend of mine has a quirky saying whenever someone dies. he emails us and says, "so and so just assumed ground temperature". you can't help but laugh.