Red Worms, Seedlings, Oh My!

You never have enough good quality healthy soil when urban gardening. To make matters worse, I live in Georgia and if you know anything about Georgia it is almost all red clay. I had to do something or I was going to be throwing away money every year on soil and soil amendments for my veggie garden. I decided to start a red worm composting bin but it seemed I could only get them through the mail.


They are here!

I'm so excited! My red worms arrived today, I feel like a new mama! It's all I can do to stop myself from peeking in on them every few minutes! I had their new home set up (mostly) and waiting for them when they arrived. I had the holes drilled (and sanded down the sharp parts) in the container and shipping paper shredded into it. I didn't want to put food scraps or wet the paper until the red worms were here.

After moistening the shredded paper and fluffing it out so it was loose, I moved it aside and put the food scraps under them.

Moist shredded packing paper and dryer lint.

I dampened some dryer lent and tore it into pieces and tossed them around on top.

I put a couple of cups of organic potting soil on top.

Organic potting soil.

And then put the worms in their new home.

The dry dirt that you see was in their container. I sprinkled a little bit of water on the dry areas. I will go back in an hour or so and see if they have all gone down below. I will then sprinkle a little water on the rest of the dry dirt.

I put a damp piece of cardboard on top (because they LOVE the dark & it helps keep things moist), now I'll leave them be to get adjusted to their new environment and let them do what worms do!

I purchased my worms on Amazon from Nature's Little Recyclers. This isn't an affiliate link, I just thought you might like to know where my worms came from. I did a lot of research online (Because that's what I do whenever I try something new!), I looked at different distributors, how they raise their worms, prices and finally chose them. If you decide to start a worm bin you can find out just about anything you could possibly want to know (And maybe more than you want to know!) about red worm composting at the Urban Worm Composting site.

More Seeds!

This week I ordered more seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. at RareSeeds.com I still needed herbs and a few other things that I wasn't able to get in my last order.

• Basil - Emily
• Cilantro
• Parsley Giant of Italy
• Summer Savory (Oh how I love this herb which was a favorite of mine in California but they don't seem to have here in Georgia)
• Tarragon, Russian (Became my new favorite herb here in Georgia)
• Petite Mix Marigold
• Ground Cherry (I've never even heard of this before, it's like a cherry but grows similar to tomatoes. They are a mix of sweet and tart.
• Lavender (Mmmm, I can practically smell it!)
• Balls Improved Orange - Calendula
• Yarrow, Cerise Queen
• Costoluto Genovese Tomato (For some reason I thought I hadn't chosen a large red tomato only a black tomato. I was wrong so now I have to figure out which will go on my patio garden and which will go into the community garden to keep them from cross pollinating.)
• Red Romaine (They always send a free packet of seeds with your order. I can't wait to try this!)

I planted a few each of the seeds listed in the previous post Gardening in the Kitchen (that could be started indoors) yesterday but ran out of my gallon size plastic water jugs that I am using for small greenhouses. At least the ones I had prepared with holes and cut mostly in half.

Water jug mini greenhouses.

My seedlings that I planted from my older seed are doing very well, of course I am wondering if I planted them too soon (at least a few of them) but hey, if some of them don't make it I have more seed. This is all a giant learning experience for me and mistakes will be made. *Pushing the anxiety over doing things wrong down*

Some of my wonderful seedling babies! 

Today I have four more water jugs prepared (also old planters that I cleaned and sanitized to sprout indoors) and I will be planting the strawberry seeds and the seeds above. Oh... thinking about all the wonderful fruits and veggies that will be growing this summer has me drooling, I'm off to make my lunch now!

Seed Savers & Seed Exchange

I have ordered quite a bit of seed and I know I have much more than I could possibly use. I have decided it would be nice to exchange seeds and seedlings from others in my area. If you love to garden, have heirloom or organic seeds, live in the Atlanta area or North of Atlanta ( I live in Marietta) and would like to exchange a few varieties, I would love that! You can contact me here in the comments or via Twitter at @APoetsKitchen 

What are you planting?

Morgan Dragonwillow is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, poet & author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam, creatrix of  #OctPoWriMo You can find her writing and dancing into a wild and juicy life at morgandragonwillow.com. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.

You can also find her on Google+

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