Vermiculture
Start a worm farm in your home
Worms are good for the garden soil for many reasons. Earthworms ingest, grind, digest and excrete soil–as much as 15 tons per acre goes through earthworms bodies in a year. These “worm castings” are extremely rich in nutrients and bacteria. They also burrow into the soil, which makes the soil more pourous and helps bring life-giving water deeper into the soil and improves drainage. This reduces the risk of erosion.
Worms also help plants grow better. Plant roots need oxygen, and worm burrows provide passages for air to get next to the roots deep within the ground. This is called aeration. These deep tunneling worms also bring subsoil closer to the surface, mixing it with topsoil that has more organic matter.
Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen, which is an important plant food. The sticky slime helps to hold clusters of soil particles together in formations called aggregates. Soil aggregates (clumps) lying next to each other permit air to move between the spaces.