Watch out for worms!

Jun 2, 2016

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Steve Ott

in Tips and Advice

Gardeners are being asked to sign up to Earthworm Watch

Gardeners are being asked to sign up to Earthworm Watch, a citizen science survey organised by Earthwatch, the Natural History Museum and the Earthworm Society of Britain. It’s well known that earthworms increase soil fertility and carbon storage by mixing in dead plant material. However, data about earthworms is severely lacking and this is particularly so for urban areas, despite the large percentage of urban space taken up by gardens and green spaces.

Earthworm Watch wants to know about the earthworms in your area so it can better understand how soil carbon stocks are affected by our management of soils. The survey is suitable for all ages and abilities as it doesn’t require earthworm species identification skills. Instead it focuses on categorising the earthworms you find into three groups. Anyone with access to a green space, such as a garden, allotment, park or school grounds, can take part.

Find out more and download the survey materials from http://www.earthwormsoc.org.uk/projects/earthworm-watch

About the author

Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.

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