I have to admit that I hate worms. I don’t think they look nice and I certainly don’t want to touch one-not even in my garden!
I’ve had a garden every year since 2006 and not only has it grown to more than a couple of cherry tomato plants and a pepper plant, I spent the first several years using-gasp-Miracle Grow and other yucky stuff to get it grow. I just didn’t know about the harmful chemicals in that stuff.
In 2012 I began to attempt organic gardening. That’s a tough feat considering I had used all that nasty stuff for years. I really don’t remember how that garden turned out. But in 2013 I decided to continue to garden organically. Of course, we also decided to sell our house that summer and the garden got a little less love than it had in years past.
But, the garden grew and it grew fairly well. We didn’t get nearly as many tomatoes but considering I didn’t use anything but some good old compost, I thought it did okay.
Fast forward to last spring and I was anxious to plant a garden in our new backyard. I knew it would be a learning experience and it certainly was!
First, we had to build our raised beds. Although we got that done we didn’t have time to fill them with more soil! But at least the garden was defined.
As I dug up the new garden, I realized there weren’t many worms. You already know about my dislike for worms and this should have made me very happy. But I knew that worms were a sign of a healthy garden.
So I simply used more compost, watered, and waited. After quite some time the plants began to grow and they began to flower. But toward the middle or end of July they still weren’t producing fruit. My first thoughts went to the bee population in my area, but no, I saw plenty of them hanging around.
Finally I mixed Epsom salts with water and used that mixture on the growing plants. I have to say, I should have done that much sooner!! The plants began to fruit and we did end up with a small harvest of tomatoes (not the bushels I had hoped to can).
This year my kids and I went to plant our cool season veggies and you’ll never guess what I found-WORMS!!! Tons of them were crawling in the soil. I knew that was a good thing but I still can’t stand the sight of them. Instead of screaming (and teaching my kids to be afraid of these harmless creatures) I simply picked them up with the shovel and buried them.
Growing organically must take time but I’m glad to see it’s starting to pay off!
I’ll leave you with some pictures of what’s growing right now!
Radishes…Can you see the tiny carrots coming up?
Yellow Onions
Potato Plant! Needs to be mounded.
Sugar Snap Peas; It looks like one vine needs to be cut down!
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