...you can't have one without the other!
I've come to squeal with delight when I see earthworms coming up in droves as Al turns the compost! Glorious sight - healthy compost, healthy plants I'm thinking! Earthworms are the great composters. Some interesting facts I discovered on the web regarding this "lowly" creature:
A worm is the gardener's unpaid helper
-Worms can eat up to one third of their body weight in a day.
-Some earthworms may live as long as eight years.
-Worms can live near the surface of the soil
or even down to twelve feet below ground.
-Worms can move objects up to fifty times their own weight.
-The value of worms was understood by the ancients;
it is said that Cleopatra of Egypt celebrated them as sacred in 50 BC.
Well I'm not saying we need to go to those extremes but I do cheer when those squirmy little wormies show up as we turn the compost.
I felt obliged to start this post with a picture of a rose bush that has definitely benefited from the compost in the soil,in order to deflect somewhat from the stark reality of the next pictures of the compost box and some of its findings. The third pic shows an earthworm emerging from inside an empty peanut shell which was submerged in the compost. Jays keep hiding peanuts (my neighbours feed them) in various planters throughout my garden. That's how a peanut will have found its way into the compost. As I mucked around and made the discovery, I was very intrigued with the little drama unfolding before my eyes. I had to move like lightening to get these shots. Earthworms don't like to be exposed! "Just let me hide", they seem to shout. The third pic shows it making its hasty retreat back into safety.
Ah yes the amazing earthworm, such a humble servant,such a true friend of the gardener...
Earthworms are the intestines of the soil.
Aristotle
1 comment:
Great pictures, Alice, of earthworms and slugs. I, too, love the earthworms. Those were some amazing facts about them. I am glad that we can't eat 1/3 of our weight!
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