Having tamed our own little wooded glen just a few years before, we jumped at the chance to snag the wood chips the landscapers made from our neighbor's fallen trees. For them, it was just a matter of where to aim the chipper spout, and had the bonus benefit of saving them a trip to the compost dump. We ended up with a thick coating of wood chips under our trees -- almost a foot deep in spots.
For the last few years, I've used these chips to mulch my garden, but with a little digging, it's not hard to obtain some real compost gold - earthworm casings. This is the layer that I'm tapping for my vegetable beds.
The worms are huge -- practically snake-like this time of year. They're allowed to come along for the ride in the wheelbarrow. They don't know it yet, but the move to the veggie beds is probably the most exciting thing that will ever happen to them.
Today I got a surprise when I checked under the gymnastics mat that I was using to smother the grass under one of the beds. It's earthworm paradise under there!
Lots of fun smells too.
4 comments:
Thanks for the update!
I like the part about the wheelbarrow ride to the veggie bed being the most exciting thing that will ever happen to them. Just the visual of that alone makes the post!
I've got a tree that will have to come down, and I will (I hope) get the tree people to aim their shredder into the yard, since I know the tree is just old, not diseased. Otherwise, my only options are buying a truckload of mulch or buying it by the bag.
Lucky you to have such a bounty of mulch!
worms are great!
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