Worms!!

I've been working on finishing up the new raised beds on days we've had nice weather. Today I filled the last of the 3 beds that we put where the lilacs used to be. Each one got a layer of newspaper (for good measure) followed by layers of old hay, the horse manure compost from the straw bale bin, coffee grounds, leaves, pine needles and the contents of the two 4x4 boxes we built and filled in the fall in their temporary location just outside the gate (pretty much the same materials, they've just been mixed for a few months). Today's box also got a little of the dirt I dug out from the spot we put the lilacs (yep, that lovely stuff in the pictures...). I probably added about 16 shovels full of the dirt I think. I was careful to layer and mix it well with the manure compost so it wouldn't have the chance to return to it's former state. I do try to remember to add some form of dirt into the beds just for the mineral content.

I was pretty happy with the condition of the contents of the temporary boxes. From the top, it didn't appear much had broken down but throughout the center, most of the materials had broken down very nicely.

I also added a little bit of finished compost (last year's batch) to the first two (I forgot today) and some of the mostly finished from my current bin in the hopes that I would be adding beneficial microbes to the bed in the process as well as compost from a wider variety of materials. I also a little bit of the lower mulch layer from my older beds to "seed" the new ones with some worms. I have a pretty good population in there these days it seems. This is what I pretty regularly find in there.

I reached into the mulch and grabbed a handful of material, took it to the new bed and this is what I saw.

Aren't they beautiful?

Because the beds are filled with so much organic material, they shrank down by several inches throughout the season last year. In the fall, I topped them off with leaves, hay, pine needles and some horse manure. After Thanksgiving, I picked up about 10 squash & pumpkins from someone who had used them as decorations. I had recently added many to the compost pile, so I decided to chop these open and bury them under the new mulch layer for the worms. Seems the worms like them (this is a chunk of squash they're on).

I have also been finding worms under the wood mulch in the pathways. Portions of the path had landscape fabric (some scraps I had) under the mulch. When I had to pull up some of the fabric to add the new beds, I discovered quite a number of worms stuck in the fabric. I few of them seemed to be wound up in the fibers and I also found several that were dead. I'm removing the rest of the fabric because of this. I want the worms to be able to travel between areas and be able to move up and down between the ground and the mulch. The worms seem to live near the surface and I want to help them survive.

I'm quite excited about the worm population. When I dug into the ground to level the beds and break up the top layer of soil last year, I think I may have found about 3 worms (maybe). Last year's load of manure came with a good supply of my little pals. Conditions must be favorable for them in there because they do seem to have multiplied! I'm starting to think of my garden as a giant worm bin. They eat the organic material and leave worm castings to fertilize my plants. It seems to me, if I keep them happy and well fed, they'll keep my plants happy and well fed, like a self-fertilizing garden!

Building the raised beds May 2008

When I first looked at this house with our Realtor, I picked out the spot for the garden. There's a spot that isn't in the back fence with the dogs, but also isn't in the front yard in full view. It's on the south side of the house and is pretty well screened from the street behind a retaining wall.

I decided one week in May that I was going to try raised beds, a first for me. I learned about lasagna gardening online, and thought it sounded worth a try. After a lot of internet searching and a lot of reading on the Gardenweb forums, I decided to get started. I found used redwood 2x6s for free on Craigslist, and started on the plan! The beds are 4' x 10' and 3 boards high (about 15.5"). Each corner has a piece of wood that I screwed the boards into, as some of the board ends aren't in the best shape. I also added a piece of 2x6 inside the center of each long side. This adds stability and helps pull the somewhat warped boards in line with each other. Building with used lumber can make for interesting projects. It may not the prettiest up close, but it serves its purpose well. I lined the wood with plastic sheeting in the hopes that it will help it last longer.

I filled the beds with what organic materials I

could find at the time. The bulk of the filling is well aged horse manure (came chock-full-o'-worms too) that I got from a family who lives a few miles up the road. They advertised the manure free on Craigslist. I started with a layer of paper and layered chicken manure (that was at least 6 months old if not older), leaves and pine needles, horse manure, coffee grounds, coffee chaffe, and a little fill dirt. I don't remember the exact order, but I tried to keep the layers to about 2-4" thick and alternate "greens" and "browns" as best I could.

The photo shows the 2 beds after they were filled. The sticks in the right bed are for the peas and in the left bed is my makeshift stick trellis. All of the materials for these 2 beds I got free through Craigslist and Freecycle or were items I had on hand.

I also built a potato box from old fence boards and 2x4's. The plan was to mulch the potatoes with straw and add the 2 open sides as the plants grew. I left the back side intact since it was against the retaining wall. I left the right side intact because the compost bin will be going just to the right of the bin.