Wormsign!

I was out turning over the decomposing leaves into the garden today and in many of the forkfuls of soil were earthworms! Big fat worms, medium worms, and small baby worms. Worms everywhere:

Why is this a big deal you ask? Because this is garden section number 2, the one that I built from scratch 2 years ago that sits above the ground. I brought in some base garden dirt, added a ton of composted chicken manure and have been adding autumn leaves, green cuttings, kitchen scraps, wood ashes, shredded newspaper, kelp meal, old aquarium water, and bone meal ever since. The first year it produced nothing but beans well (which fix their own nitrogen), last year it produced peas and beans very well and the rest of the veg at about 50% of what it should have:

This year I hope to have a fully functional garden. Worms help aerate the soil, minimizing soil compaction and allowing plants to access water and air easily. As the earthworms eat their way through the garden soil, they produce waste - worm castings - that are full of nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium, nitrogen and magnesium. The more worms in a garden, the more productive that garden soil will be. Last year there were a few worms in the garden, but not many. This year, there appear to be many worms! Color me excited to see how the veg garden will perform this year with a garden crawling with worms.