wonderful, what a marvelous feeling to see your hard work succeeding!

That's wonderful Ingrid.

..I'm very pleased for you, and you've clearly worked hard to achieve this..
...I ask, with some trepidation, how your other worms are getting on.....? settled in, I hope....

Wow, your efforts have paid off, that's so encouraging after what you've been through.

I can't relate to the worms, but when we moved here you would practically break the shovel trying to get it into our clay soil. After many years of amendments and "tons" of mulch it's a pleasure to dig in.

Keep up the good work!

Whooo hooooooo!!! Congrats!!!! I am so excited for you that you have WORMS! Sounds like whatever you are doing, it is working. Keep it up! So happy for you! You have worked hard for this.

Yay for worms!

Celebrating with you, Ingrid -- this is an excellent sign. And likely an encouragement to others not sure they can overcome their gardening challenges. I salute your soldier-on spirit!

jannike

Congrats, Ingrid!

:-)

~Christopher

...well of course I do hope all will be well in due course with this....but thanks for letting us know.... you've not really had much rain at all have you, from what I can tell..... we keep our fingers crossed....

Congratulations, Ingrid! Yes, I know exactly how exciting it is to find worms in your soil. Every time I dig a hole that's the first thing I look for, lol!

Ingrid that's very good news! I have to admit that I've been known to boast about my worms once or twice, myself...

Mazel tov,
Virginia

Congratulations Ingrid! How satisfying to see improvement.

When we first moved here to this rocky area with little soil, I started dumping bags of leaves on top of the rock--it was too overwhelming to contemplate making raised beds everywhere & hauling soil.

Yes, that was/is the goal, ultimately, a small section at a time.

But I was astonished at how many worms were attracted to the thin leafy layer--there were tons, just a couple of months later. Even more than I've found under beds of improved dirt or manure. dunno if it's the moisture, the nutrition or what.

Anyhoo, we're big believers in leaves, as the easiest, fastest way to improve soil tilth & nutrition. And they're so easy to get--we've been hauling bagged leaves put out all over our neighborhood--perhaps 150 bags so far, with more to come. It's a lot more pleasant picking them up in the cool weather now than waiting until the heat hits.

And our older neighbors are delighted for us to pick them up & save them hauling them to the curb.

Hooray for Wormville! I saw some in my soil the other day, always delighted at that because I know the soil is healthy. I think I read they love coffee grounds, is that a good way to encourage them?

When I made my first flowerbed at my then-new home 20 yrs. ago, I made sure to top dress it with compost in spring and in fall with my horse stall compost. Now, I have a beautiful large area of rotted compost that is just wonderful. I don't have all my beds that are this good, but the older ones, when I put a shovel in the bed, its just marvelous dirt and the secret is that twice a year topdressing. Worms galore! They think its the Ritz. That is tops on my list to do next week.

Ingrid, have you ever tried incorporating those tiny Moisture Beads into your soil when you plant a rose, or scratching them into the soil around your roses? I tried that in my pots of annuals last year to help with the summer heat and dryness and it worked really well. I have also heard shale works great in the planting hole of roses as it takes up water and slowly releases it. I have some but haven't tried it. Anyone know if this works?
Judith

Yay! Congrats! It's so satisfying to see progress, Ingrid.

I was doing some planting for my mom today in a light rain and I noticed so many more worms in the soil than were present in the past. Amending, mulching, and eliminating barren areas for three years have all really encouraged the worms in my parent's yard.

Jay

Oh, Ingrid, that's wonderful news! I've been meaning to email you for a while now, and have been wondering how the whole soil/worm thing was going - but - well, hardly dared to ask in public.... -:¬[ LOL
I did look up references for gardening in Southern Californian decomposed granite on the internet, and came across a lady called Pat Welsh, who you may well already be familiar with, who has a website/blog/forum called Southern Californian Organic Gardening. She seems to be an absolute mine of practical knowledge and might be well worth checking out for further info/ideas on realistically manageable ways of understanding and dealing with your challenging soil and micro-climate. You can also ask her questions and she often gives very comprehensive, thoughtful answers. Since she's now getting on in years and less able than she was, I think she might understand if you were to be fairly specific about your physical limitations - something most general gardening writers/advisors would not really take into consideration...
Anyway, I just thought it was worth mentioning, just in case you haven't come across her before. She sounds like quite a character!
Once again, I'm so pleased to hear of this really hopeful sounding new development - I send you a little dance of delight, and many loving kisses to your wriggly friends...

Pat Welch has written several good books on gardening in SoCal Organically month by month.

Here is a link that might be useful: Book Link

Thank you, all you lovely rose friends, for your encouragement and advice. One thing I keep thinking of doing but will try to do now in earnest is to obtain coffee grounds from Starbucks. That's something I haven't tried but Christopher seems to be a firm believer, and it's free. I have read some of Pat Welsh's writing and I like her upbeat, positive style. There are still more things I could be doing, but it's never as easy as it sounds. I recently put more compost mixed with seabird guano around the roses and watered it in, only to discover that the layers below weren't really moist. I had to go to every rose, pull away the compost, put a fast trickle of water to each, and then cover up with compost again. I only did a fraction of the garden but felt as though I'd been put through a shredder. Still, it was worth it to know that the roses now had what they needed. I may be crazy but I know I'm not alone in feeling that the euphoria that comes from seeing roses I love thriving and blooming, and to see a garden design come together again, albeit slowly, is worth anything I have to do to make it happen.

Ingrid

Congrats!!! I enjoy your posts.

Clay/adobe here in dought-land also.
I used coffee grounds heavily in the end of a bed (~ 2 inches) last fall. Dug them in ~ 12 inches deep. I noticed that area held moisture longer. What I didn't like were the bags that contained mostly powdered coffee grounds. Coarser achieved a better texture. Duh. Rodale compost book lists coffee grounds at 2% nitrogen and acidiic. Interestingly tea leaves were estimated at 4% nitrogen. Lots of banana peels and dry leaves also went into that area and worms have moved in. Yipee. I will limit coffee grounds to an inch in future. Took longer than expected for the soil to "feel' right. I do credit the grounds for the moisture retention as I've done banana peels alone elsewhere.

I celebrate your wormy residents, Ingrid! You've worked so hard for your successes. You deserve every one of them. -Carol

The rain always brings the fat yellow/pink worms to the surface here. It is hard to dig with out finding several although a couple of the places with the poorer soil it might just be one or two. I try and remember to stay out of the garden after a rain for a few days so I do not compact the soil.

I have not seen many of our red wigglers, not sure if they are done with last years horse manure or busy elsewhere in the garden.

Congrats on having worms. One of the best things about the hens when we could let them out was watching them run when they saw you had the shovel in hand. Often the hole was filled with fluffy-butt hens as fast and you dug it.