Worms!!

everytime i go digging in the dirt i'm amazed at the life that is teaming just below the surface: worms, millepedes, roly polys, spiders, grubs, ants, ants, and even more ants.  the soil is alive! - and that's just the stuff that i can see with the naked eye.  granted most of these i'm not keen on finding in my house (still wondering how so many roly polys end up in my basement), most of them help make the soil a richer place for plants. 

last week i ordered a box of 500 worms online (www.unclejimswormfarm.com) to start composting with worms. it's kind of amazing sometimes what you can have delivered to your front door.  i have a regular compost pile in the corner of my yard, but i have to confess, i'm not that skilled at it.  in fact i find it a tiresome chore to deal with.  it seems i never have the right mix of 'green waste' to 'brown waste' and turning the compost over is a task i never quite seem to find the time to do.  so why not let the worms do all the work?  i tried my hand at vermiculture while in grad school and found it to be a pretty easy way to deal with most of my kitchen scraps.  back then though i didn't really have a garden, so i didn't take much advantage of the nutrient rich castings the worms left behind.  so now here i am with a wonderful garden, and i hate having to buy soil amendments when i know how easy it can be to get my own.  i recently got a plastic bin, drilled some holes for drainage, added a few shovelfuls of soil along with some dampened newspaper and some kitchen waste to make a cozy little home for my little squiggly invertebrates (eggshells and coffee grounds are especially loved by the worms, citrus peel not so much).  now they are happily eating my garbage.

    The worms arrived packed in a cloth bag.   

 

The worms are becoming acquainted with their new home.

orchids

okay, well technically i'm not growing orchids to eat them.  unfortunately i can't grow vanilla at my house.  but this past year i have ventured into the amateur orchid world by trying my hand at a few.  they bring much needed color to the winter indoor garden.  the ones that i have blooming now are phalaenopsis - pretty much the standard orchid varieties that you see around.  the purple one i've had since december, and it's been blooming steadily since then - 4 months and counting, meaning that i passed the first level of orchid growing - 'i didn't kill it!'.  the white and yellow orchids are ones that i've had since last year.  with these, i've reached the second level of orchid growing - 'i got it to bloom again!'  we'll see how i fair for the third level ('i got more flowers than last year!').