Worms, Worms, Worms

Nothing else matches worm castings as a natural fertilizer!  I have used them in our strawberry planter for the last two years.  Our stawerries were able to withstand last summer's intense heat, revive during the fall and start producing again this winter and spring!  I had been trying to raise the red worms and provide ourselves with castings and worm tea, but it is more difficult than you can imagine in this hot, dry region.  I had all the necessary items needed - the tiered ventilated  trays, bedding, and ideal shady spot.  I fed them every day with old tea bags, coffee grounds or organic fruit or vegetable scraps... they seemed to like them but trouble lay ahead.  As warm weather appeared and the more than sultry hot desert wind began to waft across the worm beds, they tried to escape their little black enclosure.  Each morning I would find worms crowded around the top of the trays, trying to exit.  Some mornings, I found them underneath, in the bottom tray, where the "worm tea" collects. Once, I found ferocious red ants inside the container, eating the worms! To deter the invading army, I placed the legs of the worm factory in coffee cans filled with water, which had to be refilled daily.  Soon, I was feeling so sorry for the worms ( which were multiplying at an astonishing rate ) and for myself spending so much time taking care of the tiny things,  that I decided to release them...which I did, into the raised planter where the strawberries grow.  I gave the worm trays to a gardener friend  from Encinitas and he loves the worms and castings he is getting for his garden... I am sure the worms love the more temperate climate, too. I know that some of the worms survived along with the strawberry plants, because I find them on the flagstone which surrounds the planter after a heavy rain. Well, enough about my Borrego desert red worms...however, the castings are WONDERFUL!  You can purchase them at The Nature Center and, now, at the end of the season. They are on special - two for the price of one!

P.S.  If any Borrego gardeners are having any sucess raising red worms, please tell us about it.