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Worm castings are one of the best fertilizers that you can have in your garden.
Worm castings are considered black gold because they replicate the very best of the soil nature has to provide in terms of rich nutrition and beneficial bacteria and fungi.
To understand the benefits of worm castings, I recommend you see my article here first:
One of the main focuses of Permaculture is to connect with nature by using animals or insects to do your work, which benefits you and them.
In permaculture apartments, we adapt and use smaller varieties of biological life, like worms.
What is the cardboard box method?
Worms eat through dead organic matter, which is precisely what cardboard is. So, the idea is to lure worms to your garden by providing them with cardboard.
Even better is that worms can carry up to 15 eggs at a time. Worms can lay more eggs after just four months old.
Once worms are attracted to your garden, they will procreate and increase the fertility of your soil without you having to do any more work.
Step 1
Get some plain cardboard, try to make sure that the cardboard is not glossy, and remove the labels if possible.
If you can't remove the labels, don't worry; I've had success with cardboard that still has the delivery labels.
Step 2
Add some water to the cardboard. I always use distilled water. You can buy some in supermarkets or on Amazon.
If you can't get distilled water, then use rainwater. Do this by leaving it out in the rain. The cardboard can be damp or soggy.
Step 3
Lay your cardboard on top of your existing soil; whether it is grass or wild weeds, it doesn't matter, and there's no need to dig.
This is a fantastic way of killing all the weeds or vegetation you don't want growing in your garden bed.
Step 4
Add your compost on top of the wet cardboard.
You can have a thick layer of compost, almost like a garden bed, leaving it thick enough to plant in.
How does this work?
Worms start eating your cardboard; it takes about six months, and all that's left is a bunch of worm castings.
You'll also have a bunch of worms that will continue to fertilize the area. These worms will begin to aerate the soil by burrowing. Worm castings increase the water-holding capacity of your soil. To learn more about the benefits of worm castings, click on my article.
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