Learn Why Earthworms, Microorganisms, & Insects Are Good For Your Soil

Every gardener knows that nature can provide some of the best allies when it comes to keeping your soil healthy. These allies come in the form of earthworms, microorganisms, and even larger animals such as insects. Below are three of your best friends when it comes to helping create a healthy soil for your perennials and other flowerbeds:

1. Earthworms: Earthworms are probably the most beneficial of all living creatures when it comes to your garden soil. The amount of soil that is broken up and turned over by these hard-working little guys is incredible. These night crawlers spend all of their time tunneling and burying themselves deep inside the soil. Doing so can help improve even the most sterile of subsoil.

In addition, whenever these little worms are traveling through your soil, they are constantly leaving behind waste products. These waste products are called "casts" and are extremely rich in fertilizer and additional microorganisms. New gardeners are very quick to want to go out and purchase earthworms for their garden but doing so is totally unnecessary. All you have to do is add humus to the mixture of your soil and earthworms will literally appear and ready to start feeding.

2. Microorganisms: The amount of microorganisms that live within the confines of your garden soil is staggering. Amazingly, there can be billions of microorganisms existing in just a small handful of soil. Examples of these microorganisms include fungi, bacteria, molds, lichens, mycorrhizae, actinomycetes, and protozoa. They spend their time consuming waste products as well as prey upon each other. Warm and moist soil that is abundant with organic matter will contain large amounts of microorganism populations.

3. Insects and other large animals: Besides earthworms, there are many other insects that enjoy making their home underneath the surface of your garden. They are like small tillers actively moving in and out of your soil, creating holes and burrows, finding food and laying waste, and bringing large volumes of soil back up to the surface as they reappear. And larger animals such as gophers and moles can be just as beneficial as the smaller insects. They offer the gardener improved soil fertility. However, these bigger creatures tend to cause a little bit of destruction to perennials and other garden flowers so not all gardeners welcome them.