Monday, September 7, 2009

Black Gold

My husband took on a big task today: emptying out the compost bin. The reason for this was...I'm not sure. I think it was because the bottom was getting compacted with so many worm castings, and he wanted to take out some of the castings for our raised bed, since we are about to plant some winter crops. Sure enough, the bottom was packed with rich, dark castings--black gold! We sifted out 6-7 bucketfuls and piled it in our raised bed. Turning out all that compost was a lot of work (he did most of it). I sifted and spread the compost around the bed, and took pictures, like of the gobs of worms, below.
The worm population is very healthy and vigorous. I shredded newspaper and we layered that in the bottom of the compost bin and put all the still-decaying matter back in. The worms should like that.
I pulled out some old plants from the bed and found these worm-like things at the base of some of my declining bean plants. They are only about 1/2" long. I wonder if they could be millipedes? They look like the larvae of something.

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