Worm Man's Worm Farm

I am so excited because the seed catalogs have started arriving in my mailbox over the past week or so.  It’s two weeks before Christmas and it is cold and “snaining” (Mix of rain and snow. Yuck!) here.

I started thinking about my yearly soild improving plan. I have one every year and so should you.  The soil improving plan doesn’t have to be some grand plan written by a professional.  My plans are usually scribbled on scraps of paper tucked into some seed or plant catalog or in a notebook.

Last year my plan was to clean out several 100 foot worm beds and transfer the castings to my garden to create a thick loamy mass off goodness.   I live in Monroe Township, New Jersey.  The soil here is sand that is grey in color and turns desert-like when plowed.  At least until it rains and the weeds sprout.   I live on a road called “Matchaponix”.  There were Lene Lenape Native Americans here hundreds of years before my family came here from Italy at the turn of the last century.  “Matchaponix” was a name given by those Native Americans and mean “land of poor bread”.  It was a reference to the soil in the area because it was difficult to grow grain to make bread.  Enough said about the history of my poor garden soil.

My plan for 2010 is to add nitrogen fixing fodder plants to my garden in between my crops to enhance the nitrogen of my soil.  Nitrogen is very important to plants.  Many garden plants pull nutrients and nitrogen from the soil and use it to feed growth and create fruits and vegetables.

Nitrogen fixing  fodder plants actually add nitrogen back into the soil through their roots.  Some also can add nitrogen and important nutrients when you cut the tops and mix them back into your garden soil.

What plants are nitrogen fixing fodder plants?

Alfalfa- Sow in spring.  This is probably the best nitrogen fixing plant.  The cool thing is that you can plant this in your garden and dig holes in it to plant tomatoes and other vegetables.  The roots do the nitrogen fixing but you can mow the tops and save them or compost the tops while still green and then mix the finished compost back into your soil.

Borage- better known as an herb to most gardeners, Borage also makes an excellent composting crop. Harvest after they flower and flop over.  Then mix into your compost.

Clover (My 2nd Favorite)- I love clover because my bees use the flowers to make honey while the roots fix nitrogen into my soil.  I also love that I can plant it in the fall and it will grow right through a mild winter leaving some really terrific soil for my plants in spring.  My horses and rabbets also love to eat the flowers and leaves.

Crowder Peas- When the summer gets hot and other vegetables start to wither and flower plant Crowder Peas.  They are one legume that loves the heat.  You can also eat them.

Hairy Vetch- My teenage son told me that this sounds like a disgusting body part.  Hairy Vetch  Hairy Vetch is a top nitrogen fixing plant and it is very attractive because it is planted in late summer and isn’t cut until spring.  It is a great winter cover crop.  If you allow it to go to seed it will reseed your garden as a helpful weed and will help choke out other less desirable weeds.

Mustard- Is great for adding leaves to compost heaps.  Mustard is one of the easiest plants to grow and it will grow quickly.  It will not survive cold winters though.  Keep some growing in various spots so that you can add the leaves to composting materials or use it to choke out weeds in your garden.

Quaker Comfrey (My favorite)-  Not only is Quaker Comfrey a great nitrogen fixer right through the roots, it is also a perennial.  Our rabbits and horses love it chopped up into their food and our red worms and euroworms eat it like crazy. All I do is throw some leaves in the worm bins and I let them go at them.  I find more worm capsule(eggs) around those leaves than in any other spots.  Manure from rabbits and horses that eat some comfrey with their food also creates a better worm casting product because of all of the nutrients.

Some good tips:

1.  Rotate your garden spot if you can so that you can use nitrogen fixing plants in last year’s spot to allow the soil to recuperate before using it again.  Giving the soil some time off will do wonders for your crops.

2.  If you can’t rotate your garden spot then rotate your rows.  Plant tomatoes in a row this year and then nitrogen fixing crops in that row next year.  Most gardeners can rotate rows with less space problems.

3.  Try to plant nitrogen fixing crops in the fall so that you can have your garden ready for spring. This will save you work because the cold will cut the plants back for you.  You can then plant over the nitrogen fixing crop.

Please enjoy your garden.  My garden is one of the many reasons I enjoy living.