How to make life easier for yourself and your earthworms

‘Lawn’ is a euphemism for the grassy area that almost encircles the house where we live. It is not the uniformly green carpet woven from one family of plants that is the ideal of perfectionists. Moss competes with grass for the available space and is sometimes pulled up and left in withering heaps by exploring magpies, but I welcome the primroses that have managed to establish themselves, the violets that grow abundantly, the white centred  baby blue flowers of germander speedwell, daisies and white clover with its nitrogen fixing root nodules. I look forward to the edible fungi, the penny buns and the puff balls, and the toadstools that slugs find more appetising than our lettuces.

We used to treat this green like a lawn, mowing it regularly and emptying the contents of the lawn mower basket on to a compost heap. This inevitably led to a deterioration in the condition of the grass, so we fed it using mineral fertilizer. The result was almost miraculous, as I realised when I staggered under heavier and more frequent loads of potential earthworm food to the compost heap.

At a time when it was beginning to dawn on us that the Earth’s resources of fossil fuels were finite, I was struck by the absurdity of using fossil fuel dependent mineral fertilizers to grow luxuriant grass which would need even more fossil fuel to cut. The lawn was put on a no-fertilizer diet, but gradually moss and lichen succeeded the thinning grass. After wet weather the lichen became slippery, and I was only saved from an undignified slide by John’s impatience with all things horticultural. When he volunteered to endure the boredom of mowing grass, it was on condition that the basket was removed from the mower. The result was a revelation. Most of the grass dried quickly and soon disappeared. I could see that this was the way forward. We now leave the cut grass to the decomposers, the condition of the green has steadily improved, and if there are any earthworms thrusting below the surface, they should find palatable food.

There was something else I needed to remedy, the pH of the soil. A light dusting of lime should not go amiss. That done, and by continuing to search for New Zealand flatworms in their favourite congregating place, I hope I done a little to help earthworms in their battle for survival.