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No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 6:32 pm
by LindaG
I've lived in my home for 15 years and have found out today when I had to dig something up that was in by about a foot, that there are no worms! The garden is all enclosed in roads, the house, garage etc and as it was build 15 years ago on a brown field site I imagine they just put top soil into the garden that didn't contain worms. I've even spent ages watering my grass recently to ensure the birds can get worms :o(
I have worms in my shed though, I got them from Worm City in December 2018. I wonder if I should buy some more and put them in my garden, would they be ok? If yes should I put them into many different places within the garden or just one big hole? I'm planning a wild life garden and feel worms should be there as part of that environment but are these 2 types of worms sufficient for my garden or should I be looking for others?

I welcome any comments or advice also regarding time of year to do this.

Many thanks, Linda

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 6:43 pm
by Lilwriggler
They are composting worms, not earthworms, so i don’t think your plan would work i’m afraid. Creating good habitat, wood mulch borders, compost heap etc. And you will get plenty of bugs and insects in for the birds etc. I get a lot of birds in my garden and they are eating more insects than worms!

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2020 8:43 am
by WillyWorm
Compost worms are not likely to survive in heavy clay soil for long. I’m not sure if Wormcity sell earth worms but you could phone and ask for advice I know some suppliers do and a search on line may locate one.
BUT I have been keeping worms for many years. I have a front and back garden plus two allotments. I compost (about 12 bins) I have four worm bins, one rotary bin, 6 worm towers, a carbon bin (for wood chips), all this plus more and I still have very very few earth worms. The reason I have so few worms is the New Zealand flat worm. It’s not a worm looking more like a leech but it has a huge appetite for earth worms. Do a search on line for information and identification then check your garden to see if they are present. There is little you can do about them, there is no chemical treatment to deal with them the only thing is destroy them if you see them. The good news is that if you apply compost and humus you will attract a lot of bugs and insects which will still help recycle dead and decaying plant material.
A worm tower with compost worms could act as a bird feeder, I find my compost worms can survive in these for a month or so.

Good luck
Willy

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:38 am
by LindaG
Thank you so much for this information. I shall concentrate on the bugs instead xxx

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:56 am
by WillyWorm
Yea, I still get jealous of people with wormy gardens but I manage ok without. If is just the fact that you have a heavy clay soil overtime it will improve with compost and worms will appear.

Willy

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:31 am
by Smallthings
Hi - don't know if this will help but I know that some wild bird/wildlife food suppliers have sold (alongside mealworms) small packs of live earthworms for feeding to our avian friends. You could perhaps try and source some this way and then re-home them in your garden soil? Good luck with it all anyway!

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:37 pm
by Dstressdx2
Surely there are other things you can feed the birds rather than really helpful earth worms ... slugs and snails for instance. Or go to a pet shop, buy some meal worms, put them in a plastic container of bran, and in next to no time you will have a meal worm farm that can feed tonnes of birds and still have enough to keep growing more. Caterpillars are another option. But please, not in my veg garden.

The best thing though would be having a small part of your garden full of 'weeds' - docks, nettles, thistles, stuff like that, will all encourage insects that birds eat, or in some cases, even the seeds of the plants themselves. Just be carefully as some of them can be vigorous in their growth, and will take over if given half a chance.

What kind of birds are you actually trying to feed?

Re: No worms in my garden soil

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 6:37 pm
by Smallthings
Hi, just to clarify in case there was a misunderstanding about my suggestion, I personally wouldn't buy earthworms to feed birds, especially as many species don't eat them anyway, also agree about growing natural plants etc. Just noticed on perusing wildbird food seller websites that some do (or did?) sell packs of live earthworms as birdfood. Wondered if this might be an option for the original poster so they can rehome them in the hope they'd start breeding/doing their natural magic to the soil so she ends up with a nice wormy garden :-)