Red Wrigglers and European Nightcrawlers are two types of worms that  belong to the upper layers of the soil. Unlike other earth worms, they tend to eat much fresher forms of decaying material including: plants, leaves, mulch, plant roots, your table scraps, animal waste, and anything that attracts the microbes they feed on.

The waste material that Red Wrigglers and European Nightcrawlers leave behind is what is known as worm castings or worm compost in many gardening sections. You can create worm castings right in your garden, continuously, and practice zero waste composting methods to keep your worms happy and turning household wastes into a great growing medium for your plants.

The Red Wrigglers and European Nightcrawlers can help with that, and happily. As they crawl and scoot in and out of those fallen leaves and garden debris eating their way as they go, they leave behind those wonderful, nutrient-dense worm castings that are resistant to degradation, light, and airy, allowing more water and air to flow down in the soil where plant roots can make use of it to stay healthy and strong.

Worm castings also hold water well, allowing your plants to make the best use of any rain or irrigation water that comes into your food forest system and reducing the amount of water needed to help plants grow and thrive over time.

You can support your new worm friends settling into their new homes by burying your kitchen scraps directly near a struggling fruit tree or plant that just needs a little extra something and allow them to make their way through your entire garden on their own.

If you haven’t yet tried the power of worm castings, just adding a handful to a struggling plant in your edible landscape should convert you on just how well they help and support plant growth. One of the best things about the worm castings is that you do not half to ruin the ground by telling them in. Simply sprinkling them on top and watering will be enough to reap the many benefits of this lovely and natural plant fertilizer. This makes the addition of your compost worms suitable for any gardener who is growing plants in a no-dig system.

Worm castings are great for propagating cuttings too and their airy, yet supportive structure makes for an excellent place for tender, young roots to forge new paths. As time passes and your little garden workers eat their way to improved soil tilth, it becomes an easy task to take cuttings of all your favorite plants, stick them into the ground, and propagate them right where you would like additional plants to grow.

For such a low investment, adding red wrigglers and European Nightcrawlers to your edible landscape will have you reaping the most bountiful harvests for years to come.

You can compound your soil building efforts with the power of chop and drop. Mulching with leaves or wood chips also gives your new worm friends something to munch on throughout the year. For even more organic fertilization of your edible landscape, garden, or food forest, you can also add ducks or chickens to your earth-friendly, no chemical setup, or try using fish waste water to give your plants an organic jump.