Like everything else in life, having a fruitful raised garden requires a little bit of knowledge and hard work. If the gardening process is alien to you, start here and learn about what it takes to have a working garden.
Let’s Talk About Soil
Soil is rich in nutrients and biologically active - there’s lots going on in there that the naked eye can’t see! Made up of minerals, dead and living organisms (organic matter), air and water, soil is the most dynamic and important natural resource our planet offers.
The most common habitants of good soil are earthworms, soil microbes and gopher turtles - and while all soils already have different variations of microbes, one of the easiest ways to ensure your soil is healthy is with earthworms!
Compost
Using leftover kitchen scraps as a compost for your garden reduces waste, it’s good for the environment and helps enrich your soil for healthier and stronger outcomes. Some of the many benefits include:
- Incorporates organic matter to feed microorganisms and macroorganisms that maintain a healthy soil food web
- Enriches soil with nutrients for plant growth
- Releases nutrients slowly so they don’t leach away as some synthetic fertilizers do
- Improves soil structure
- Promotes drainage and aeration in clay soil
- Enhances moisture and nutrient retention in sandy soil
But perhaps the biggest benefit a compost offers is attracting earthworms, nature’s best soil engineers.
Earthworms
By their activity in the soil, earthworms offer many benefits: increased nutrient availability, better drainage, and a more stable soil structure, all of which help improve your produce.
Worms feed on plant debris (dead roots, leaves, grasses, manure) and soil. Their digestive system concentrates the organic and mineral constituents in the food they eat, so their casts are richer in available nutrients than the soil around them. Nitrogen in the casts is readily available to plants. Their bodies decompose rapidly, further contributing to the nitrogen content of soil.
They often leave their nutrient-rich casts in their tunnels, providing a favorable environment for plant root growth. The tunnels also allow roots to penetrate deeper into the soil, where they can reach extra moisture and nutrients. Earthworm tunneling can help incorporate nutrients and fertilizer into the soil.
The extensive channeling and burrowing by earthworms loosens and aerates the soil and improves soil drainage. Soil with earthworms drain up to 10 times faster than soils without earthworms. Their tunnels also act, under the influence of rain, irrigation and gravity, as passageways for nutrients and other material.
Frame It All Worm Box
There are different ways to raise and/or attract worms in your garden, but if you’re looking for ease of use and performance, the Frame It All Worm Box is an essential component to every raised garden as it adds to the quality of the soil and in doing so provides for sturdier and healthier veggies, fruits and flowers. Simply locate it in the soil in the deepest part of your raised garden beds.
The easy to assemble, affordably-priced, Worm Box, has multiple entrances in every surface to encourage worms to take up residence. (Don’t worry, the snap lock lid keeps out pests!) You’ll be amazed at just how much this will improve your soil.
So, get your hands dirty and enjoy the miracle of growth!