Worms: The Underground Workforce Your Veg Can’t Live Without
If you want to grow cracking veg, you need good soil — and for that, you need worms. Lots of them. They’re the quiet, slimy grafters doing the real work underground while we’re up top fussing about the weather and arguing over slug pellets.
At Wiggly Wigglers, we’ve got several types of wrigglers:
Dendrobaena veneta — chunky, hungry composting worms who’ll chomp through your kitchen waste like there’s no tomorrow.
Eisenia andrei — smaller, speedier types who love a good heap of muck or similar organic matter.
Lumbricus terrestris — the classic garden worm, tunnelling deep and keeping your soil open for roots, air, and rain.
Between them, they turn waste into living, breathing soil. But they can’t do it on an empty stomach — they need the right ingredients. Think of it as a three-course meal:
Green – a root in the soil of somethingfresh and growing, full of nitrogen (cover crops, grass, veg trimmings).
Brown – something dead and dry (leftover plant matter, straw, leaves, cardboard… even loo rolls if you’re short).
Black – the rich, earthy compost or worm cast that’s packed with microbes.
Get those three colours in your soil and the worms will move in faster than you can say “pass the spade.” They’ll mix it all up, munch through it, and leave behind worm casts that are basically gold dust for your veg.
Cover crops are brilliant for them too. Clover, vetch, rye — plant it, let it grow, chop it down, and the worms will take care of the rest. It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet with a roof over their heads.
So if you’re after bumper beans, beetroot the size of cricket balls, or tomatoes that make your neighbour jealous — feed your worms first. Keep the soil covered, damp as a wrung-out sponge, and full of life.
Because where the worms are happy, everything else follows.
