Accidental worm farming

[blurose]

I had some potted roses in my backyard from several years ago that have since died. Earlier this spring, when I was putting together my herb garden in my recycled ice chests, I recycled the dirt from these pots. I discovered that there were TONS of worms in the dirt in each of these 6 pots. What a gardeners goldmine it turned out to be. I put most of them in my ice chests with the dirt , after placing large rocks in the bottom, and planted my herb garden in them. I keep the soil moist and I haven't seen any worms trying to escape from the top side of things. I wonder if they are thriving down in there or have snuck out the drain spout?

 

[Tutter]

That's an interesting question! I wonder if you can carefully dig down and check?

I'd be tempted to bury a food offering here and there.

What a great find!

 

[blurose]

Just what would be a "food offering" to earthworms?

 

[Tutter]

Well, if you mulched with straw, which would require less watering, you could lift it and put under it food such as a little bit of rolled oats, some leaves, or any vegetation.

That keeps you from digging around the roots to stuff goodies inside.

What types of herbs are we talking about? Fast herbs like parsley, or long term?

 

[Beekissed]

Cornmeal, oats, table scraps (not meat), etc. As long as they have something to eat and the soil stays nice and moist, they should stay put....well, until they produce so many other worms that it gets crowded!

 

[blurose]

In one ice chest I've got Italian Parsley, sage and chives (or what's left of my chives after the ground squirrels tunneled under them to plant seeds of their own). In the other ice chest I've got basil, thyme (which is blooming now) and fern dill. There is room for more and I'm going to add rosemary, more chives again and oregano.

 

[Dace]

I have worms and what I do is I keep a large ziplock bag in my fridg. I throw food scraps into it ( some goes into the compost pile and some I save for the worms) Every once in a while, I put the contents of the bag into a blender/food processor and give it a whirl to break down the chunks. Then I pour the mixture into smaller bags and freeze them. I then feed the worms a baggie full a week....about 1/2 bag 2 times a week.

 

[Tutter]

In one ice chest I've got Italian Parsley, sage and chives (or what's left of my chives after the ground squirrels tunneled under them to plant seeds of their own). In the other ice chest I've got basil, thyme (which is blooming now) and fern dill. There is room for more and I'm going to add rosemary, more chives again and oregano.

This is just a thought, but you might want to keep your annual herbs in one container, and perennials in another.

For example, rosemary warrants a container of it's own, I think. Then put it where it can live it's life.

 

[blurose]

Thanks Tutter. I haven't put in any rosemary yet. I did, however, do a little rearranging of my ice chest herb gardens. In the one ice chest, I repositioned the Italian parsley, spreading it out more. It sprouted up clumped together like sod. I moved the sage to the other ice chest and replaced it with the basil. I put the sage next to the thyme in the second ice chest, where the basil used to be. Does this sound like a good lineup? In the first ice chest, which is farthest from my leaky faucet and gets the most sun of the two ice chests, I've got my Italian parsley, my sweet basil, a few lingering chives and I planted some oregano seeds. In the second ice chest, which gets a miniscule amount less of sun, I've got my sage, thyme, fern-leaf dill and room for something else, which is where I'd thought to put my rosemary. I've got my peppermint in its own clay pot and just planted some spearmint seeds in their own pot as well. I've got a little bay laurel sapling in its own little clay pot, but moved it from full sun to sit next to the thyme, or in part sun. Even after switching them around, the basil, parsley and sage are all doing very well with no signs of shock.