Worm castings are an amazing organic fertilizer for your garden! Worm castings look just like top soil, are rich in many nutrients, and have an earthy, pleasant smell.

“My patio furniture and patio has several of these dried up worms and what looks like excrement everywhere”, states this reader concerning the dark green organism with black spots pictured below. “We have a pretty dense canopy of trees but I have never seen this before. Could you help me identify the worm and tell me if this is indeed worm excrement? Thank you.” Firstly, we think that the worms our reader has been finding are caterpillars: the organism’s bulbous head, prolegs, and coloration all point to this fact. That said, the coloration is a bit off: the blackish part of its body almost looks like it has been burnt, and the greener part at its rear suggests it used to be a much more vibrant green. Maybe this is a result of the caterpillar drying out as our reader suggested.

“I found this worm on my laundered bed sheet as I was making my bed,” says this reader about the multi-colored object pictured below. Our reader asks if we can identify it for him and specifically if it is a midge fly larva.

Worm tea sounds like a disgusting beverage, not exactly the sort of drink you want to curl up with on a cold night (or any night for that matter.) Fortunately, it’s not a drink that people enjoy…it’s used primarily as a fertilizer!

A reader recently reached out to us with this question, “What is the best way to prepare eri silk frass to become a soil fertilizer for food crops?” Let’s dive in by breaking down this question!

A worm factory is a multilayered compost bin that is designed to efficiently harness the power of worms to make nutrient-rich compost for your garden (or for whatever else you might want to use nutrient-rich compost for). Compost produced by worms is particularly good for gardening, helping your plants flourish.

Also called “vermicompost” or “worm compost,” castings are such powerful fertilizers because worms eat nutrient packed fruit and vegetable scraps. When worms consume vegetable scraps, the scraps become compost as they pass though the worms body. The compost exits the worm’s body through its tail.

Magic Worm Bedding has a sphagnum peat moss base. This organic, fibrous material is believed to have the ability to “hold up to twenty times its own weight.”

All you have to do is visit your local nursery or home and garden store. It’s also easy to purchase castings online. Although you will have to pay a shipping fee, many online retailers offer rock bottom prices and Internet only specials, which will offset any shipping costs.

A worm bed is actually the most important part of a successful worm composting system. A worm bed can be made from either moist newspaper strips or moist leaves.