Monday, March 9, 2009

Full moon soon. According to the Farmers Almanac, March's full moon is known as the Full Worm Moon.

From here.

"At the time of this spring Moon, the ground begins to soften and earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of robins. This is also known as the Sap Moon, as it marks the time when maple sap begins to flow and the annual tapping of maple trees begins."

4 comments:

  1. Hi. I am a beginning gardener and my friend recommended I try to find a wholesale bait shop to obtain worm castings from. I also compost but there is not nearly enough to supply my garden, especially now b/c it is so full of clay. I have come across your blog and was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I have already called a couple of the bait places with no luck. Good to see you are having so much fun with worms! Thanks Mary

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  2. Hi Mary. I'm excited! My first question. Not sure I'm a good one to ask though. I started seriously gardening and worming just 2 yrs ago and I have more questions now than answers. But here are a few thoughts:
    1. I would be very surprised if bait shops sell worm castings (AKA poop). I don't know how they store their worms for sale but I doubt if they use a composting bin. Not that it’s impossible but I don’t see the bait store owner carefully adding vegetable and fruit scraps and then harvesting the poop. And unless they devoted a LOT of space to the composting it would be 6 months before they had enough castings to sell.
    2. I know you can buy worm castings from garden supply stores. Here’s one online store that sells it: http://www.hooksandlattice.com/worm-casting-fertilizer.html. $15 for 5 pounds sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
    3. In my area, just outside Washington, DC, about a yr ago I saw worm castings for sale in a Giant grocery store. In the vegetable aisles! In a container that looked like a can of Raid bug spray. And it was labeled "worm poop." Very odd. I wish I'd bought one now b/c I'm really curious as to the source of those castings.
    4. Clay soil really stinks. That’s what I have too and it’s taken me a couple of years to improve my soil. I use my leaf compost and now my worm poop. Plus my garden is tiny: last year it was 5 x 5 feet. This year I’m up to 5 x 10 feet and it seems enormous.
    5. If you live anywhere near me I’d be happy to give you a jar of my castings (well, not MY castings, my worms’ castings).
    Does any of that help? Hope so! Good luck.

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  3. Thanks for your answers. It is all over my head so you are better off than me. We learn through asking questions. That is how experts arrive. I just started a blog space for yoga and massage this month but have not worked on getting it out there yet.

    It seems like you are local. I am in Arnold MD. I would love to take you up on your offer and I will check out the website. So you do not need much worm poop to nourish the garden since the packaging is so small? What is the best way to apply it?

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  4. I mix the castings in with just the top layer of soil. And I think that, in theory, there's no amount that's too much. In other words, you can't overdose your soil. I have a small 2-bin worm composting system, which has been fully operating for a full year now. In that first year it produced what I would call a small amount, probably enough to fill up one tub, which is about 10 by 12 by 5 inches. That would be enough to put a very small layer of castings on a 5 x 5 foot garden.

    So it all depends on how big your garden is and how much you want to invest.

    I know where Arnold is but I rarely get over that way, unless we're headed for the ocean beaches in which case we go over the Bay Bridge. If you have any interest in coming down this way, for example to the fabulous plant nursery Behnke's (which is in Beltsville), we could meet there and I could give you the jar of castings. It won't go far but I'm still offering it up. Shoot me an email (pamelawinters@comcast.net) if you're interested.
    Hope this helps!

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