Working On My Night Moves!

Worms mating in Bed 25!

So it's Saturday night and I'm out in the garden working on my night moves (don't laugh, you can learn a wealth of information about your garden by checking it at night) and low and behold I stumbled upon the best photo opportunity ever.  I hope you are able to make this out despite a horrible attempt at making a great photo with less than adequate lighting.

Two worms were mating on top of the soil within the garlic patch. Usually, this is something commonly seen a little later in the spring, but this year our temperatures at night are running somewhat above average (soil temperature is 66 degrees F at close to midnight).  Seeing the soil once again alive after dark is such a reflection of the seasonal change making one quite hopeful for the harvest to come.  It's definitely planting season.

Earthworms play such a vital role in the fertility, health, and productivity of the soil.  They serve as excellent indicators of overall soil condition.  The earthworm, being a superstar underground, has the ability to affect the nutrient-supplying power of your soil.  They take organic matter, ingest and digest it, then excrete casts (worm poop) loaded with nutrients they don't utilize for their own nutrition.  These casts serve as a valuable source of organic fertilizer for vegetative plant growth.  The richness of the casts and the productivity of your soil are then determined by the varied type of diet you feed the worms and the worm populations that are present. Healthy living soil would then provide you with productive, well-fed, healthy, and happy plants.
  
Normally, one would hope not to find any creatures doing the wild thing in the garden so late at night, but these guys are definitely guaranteed a hall pass as well as a little privacy. Night, night, little worms, I'm in awe of all you do!

Green Meadows Healthy Garden Tip:

For those who would like to determine if they have worm populations effective enough to support healthy plant growth, we did an article a couple years back with some simple observations you can make and suggestions for increasing worm activity.  Here's the link below for your convenience.  Also, remember you can search the blog for topics of interests as your team has written a wealth of information for you to enjoy.

http://greenmeadowscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2013/12/if-worms-could-talk.html - link to a previous post on worms.

Happy Gardening,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29