Worm Apocalypse
This past weekend was very sunny and nice, up until about 5 pm on Sunday when it started hailing like crazy! I was outdoors most of the weekend, and I noticed a wind come up on Sunday afternoon, followed by an extreme temperature drop. At first, I didn’t realize why I was so cold. My nose started running and my hands were freezing. I had to go inside and put on long underwear, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweater, because previously I was only wearing jeans and a tank top. I almost put on gloves! It was so cold!
Before this crazy temperature shift, I built my garden. It consists of siding from the ReBuild Center, compost from the place where Adam dumps brush from his work, and bird netting to keep Oz from using the beds as his outdoor litter box.
First, I dug into the ground under the beds, to break up the clumpy clay soil and remove the top layer of decaying grass. Wow, there were a ton of worms in the ground. That’s a good thing – worms are indicators that a whole ecosystem of bacteria, insects, and fungus live in the soil, all of which are great for plants. Also, worms dig tunnels in the soil which the plants can use to send down roots and which can help with water drainage. But wow, poor worms. They really had their lives turned upside down.
After tilling up the ground, I put in the sides and shovelled compost on top. The compost was very warm still, so I now have to give it a couple weeks to settle and cool off, otherwise it could cook my seeds!
Over the top of the beds I laid down bird netting. When I plant in the beds, I’ll need to put in some stakes and raise the netting 6 inches off the soil, according to the recommendations of the packaging the net came in. Until then, it was freezing and I just wanted to get that stuff down so Oz wouldn’t ruin the beds.
It looks great! It was a lot of hard work, but fun to be outside all day with Sophie and Oz and the chickens next door. We all had a fantastic time. Can’t wait to plant!
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