Garden Worms

Garden worms are important citizens of the best gardens, let's take a closer look.

Anyone who spends time in a garden will tell you earthworms are a gardener's best friends. 

In fact, earthworms may be the most important factor in the success of a garden. 

As you know, farmers need to plow the soil. 

Plowing breaks up the soil, allowing air and water to get to seeds and the roots of plants. Earthworms act like tiny plows when they live in a garden.

As earthworms move through the soil of a garden, they make tunnels. Just like plowing, these tunnels allow air and water to get to the roots of plants.

Without access to air and water, plants would not grow well, which is why you might notice that plants sometimes don't survive if the soil they're in is too dry and compacted.

Just about all soil has earthworms. 

The better the soil, the more earthworms you'll find. 

As earthworms live their lives in the soil, they eat organic matter, such as dead leaves, grass clippings and even dirt. 

After they digest their unique meal, earthworms produce excrement that helps enrich the soil further.

Their waste — called "castings" when found on top of soil — helps gardens grow because it's rich in phosphorus, calcium, nitrogenand magnesium. 

 

These are all important nutrients that help garden plants grow and stay healthy.

Gardeners who want to increase the number of earthworms in their garden soil can do so by adding more organic matter to their garden. 

Mulched leaves or grass clippings will draw more earthworms to their soil, and, in turn, the earthworms will enrich the soil with their tunnels and castings.

Scientist Charles Darwin once had this to say about the role of the lowly earthworm:

"The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man's inventions; but long before he existed, the land was in fact regularly plowed and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures."

A Living Salad Wall

 

 

 

 

Let's Get Our Hands Dirty

We love our garden.

Not only does it give us the vegetables and herbs we use, but did you know gardening can actually make you healthier and extend your life?

Yes, it's a form of exercise, but gardening takes you into a different mind set, a higher level of consciousness. 

Research shows that gardening has a direct correlation to a longer life. 

But wait, there's more.

This horticulture therapy focuses on connecting with nature so you can reconnect with yourself.

Here are some of the ways that gardening helps us reconnect and become centered.

Reduces Stress

Stress relief is a natural when gardening. Actually, no other relaxing activity helps more in fighting stress.

The very sight and smell of herbs and plants give new life to your relaxation and peace of mind, releasing stress.

Just being out in the sunlight while gardening increases the secretion of serotonin (a natural antidepressant) and melatonin (the sleep hormone) in the brain, keeping the brain balanced, centered and grounded. As a result, you'll enjoy a healthy sleep cycle by maintaining the circadian rhythm (the brain’s internal biological clock).

In addition, gardening keeps your mind distracted from your problems for a while. The garden calls for your mental focus on gardening, helping you forget your personal issues while digging in the soil.

A 2011 study published in the Journal of Health Psychology reports that gardening promotes neuroendocrine and affective restoration from stress. It says that gardening leads to reduced levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in the brain and infuses positive moods that promote relief from stress.

Gardening Fights Depression

It's rather simple, gardening helps improve symptoms of depression, reducing the secretion of cortisol and aids recovery from depression.

A 2007 study published in the Neuroscience concludes that a certain type of bacteria found in soil aids in increasing serotonin metabolism in the brain. This in turn helps boost your mood and relieve depression, so gets those hands dirty.

Another study published in Research and Theory of Nursing Practice in 2009 suggests that therapeutic horticulture can be used for treating clinical depression. 

Improves Mental Health

There are studies suggesting that gardening is helpful in lowering the risk of developing dementia.

In a 2006 study published in the Medical Journal of Australia, researchers analyzed 115 cases of dementia, researchers found daily gardening helped reduce the number of cases of dementia by 36%.

Physically it's Healthy 

Different aspects of gardening, such as gripping, stooping, lifting, stretching, walking, standing, kneeling, sitting and squatting, require body movements that provide exercise benefits. In fact, activities like digging and raking are high intensity physical activities.

New Moon and Moisture in the Soil

Gardening by the moon is not new, it's based on science as well as the stories of folklore and superstition.

The Earth is impacted by both the sun and moon. The tides are influenced by moon Just as the moon pulls the tides in the oceans, it also pulls upon the subtle bodies of water, causing moisture to rise in the earth, which encourages growth. 

The highest amount of moisture is in the soil at this time, and tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon.

But in a few days we will have the new moon where the lunar gravity pulls water up, and assists the seeds to grow.

With the increasing moonlight there's a balanced root and leaf growth. This is the best time for planting above ground annual crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit. Lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and grain crops. Cucumbers like this phase also, even though they are an exception.