Archive for the ‘In the Garden’ Category

Mark your calendars, it is time to get composting.  May 2-8 is Compost Awareness Week.

If you have been dreaming about how lucky you would be if you could just have some black gold of your own, this is the time to stop dreaming and start doing!  There are many ways to compost your leftover kitchen and garden waste. You can use old pallets to construct a simple compost bin or you can use a compost tumbler to decrease the time it takes from start to finish.

Tumbleweed Composter

Worms are a great edition to any compost pile. They help to breakdown the material quicker than traditional composting alone. A compost pile is a great place for red wigglers to hang out. They can stay nice and warm in the middle of a pile in the dead of winter, and migrate to the outside of the pile in the summer heat when your pile really starts to cook. The added benefit of worm castings adds a natural fertilizer to the finished product.

Worm bins are also a great way to compost your leftovers and create the blackest gold around – worm castings. Worm’s devour the materials you put into their bin and deposit the nutrient rich castings as they go. This is a quick and efficient method of recycling all your newspaper, junk mail, rice, vegetables and stale cereal.

These days many cities are now offering curbside recycling for your kitchen waste. These cities have to use precious resources to haul your garbage off to the landfills and recycling centers. They also offer you the chance to buy it back in the form of compost for your gardens. Why not cut out the middle men and start your own home recycling program right in your back yard. What a great way to help save the environment and your pocket book at the same time.

So treat yourself to some black gold this summer and start composting!

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There is no better way to control pests in your garden than to employ your own army of soldiers. Beneficial insects work for you to control the bugs that eat your seedlings, spread disease in your plants, and make even the best gardeners frown.

Most people have heard of cutworms eating seedlings, aphids destroying prize flowers, and whiteflies invading greenhouses. But most people want to find an organic way to rid themselves of these bugs without poisoning their yards and gardens with pesticides.

Beneficial insects provide a natural way to keep these pests under control and your garden growing beautifully all season long. Northwest Wigglers is proud to offer you more choices for organic gardening and now offers beneficial insects to keep your gardens safe, and your thumbs greener than ever.

You can view some of the insects we offer under Beneficial Insects in our shopping cart. Click here to find out more.

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Garage Garden - Growing green in the dead of winter.

Just because it is cold outside doesn’t mean you have to give up on your garden.  Check out our own little organic garage garden.   If you look closely you will find some lettuce, spinach and tomatoes (which must have sprouted from seeds in the castings).   I made a mix of 1/2 peat moss and 1/2 worm castings to plant the seeds in.   Once a week the little garden gets some extra love with an application of  worm tea.   The tea is made  in our compost tea brewer with a pound of castings from our worms, which we brew for 24-72 hours.    We love our worm tea and so do our plants.    We will post more images in a couple of weeks to let you see our garden’s progress.

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