earthworms

I am new to this site although I have been lurking for several months and have read several books on permaculture. I am 76, active, work in my garden about 3 hours a day and am pretty poor. I live in a mobile home park and have turned my entire yard space into garden, I have been gardening organic for many years, and have lived in this space for 3 years. I have no access to water except for city water, which is terrible and i dont drink it. My first year I introduced earthworms along with some compost and manure i bought, and many bags of leaves from a nearby forest.  The amendments I use are bloodmeal, bonemeal, fish fertilizer, kelp. The earthworms all died and although my veges and plants are doing fine I worry that my water is killing all the microorganisms in the soil. I cannot afford to bring in a truckful of compost or even wood chips, which are not free or available where I live. I am thinking of getting some kind of filter for my garden hose in hoping the earthworms will come back. Does anyone know how long it takes the chemicals currently in the soil from my water to go away? And how long it might take for earthworms to just find me? any suggestions appreciated.
sophia

Sorry about your worms. A filter of some sort might help with water depending on what’s in it. Is there any place you can have it tested to see if it’s the culprit?

I have heard of many people filling buckets or containers and letting it sit in the sun for 24 hours to eliminate chlorine etc from tap water. How long it would take to eliminate anything in the soil from water I would guess depends on what’s in it. I would think most could be washed away with a good rain but I’m no expert in that regard.

Leaves are great for creating good soil worms like to be in. They do take a little while to break down though.

Welcome to permies, Sophia! Are you able to collect rain water?

Hi Sophia,

Welcome to Permies.

A funny thing about worms is their eggs are indigestible in the birds gut, so they're all over the roof waiting for a rain to wash them down to the gutter and into your garden.

Mother nature does a pretty good job of taking care of herself.  I would suggest a filter for you, for drinking/cooking water - multiple ways to do this depending on what you're concerned about.
For your yard, I'd make weed tea, add organic materials and make more compost.  When your soil becomes healthy, the worms will show up.  Good luck.

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I live in a part of texas which had no rain all summer and the average temp this year was 102-106. I did get a barrel for rain water but most mobiles dont have gutters and it is a flat roof so the barrel itself did not get much water in our first rain a week or so ago. So I am hoping the bird poop finds a way back into my garden, did not know worms could come back via my birds. I have learned a lot this year about permaculture via you tubes and recently found out via dr. Elaine, the soil goddess, that the comfrey tea I have been making all these years is anaerobic. I learned about weed teas and have been experimenting with that this summer. I have had good produce, and eat out of my garden every day, but I very much want to be more sustainable. I am experimenting with sheet mulching this autumn for some spring beds (not raised beds) so will see how that goes. I live alone so do everything myself, and am trying to come up with ideas to do lasagna beds without spending a lot of money. I am going to start leaving buckets out  for a full day after filling them up with the worst water I have ever had in my life. So thanks for that suggestion, hope it works.
sophia

Sophia, welcome to the forum.

I am also in Texas where we did not get any rain all summer.

All my plants are drought-tolerant and have struggled to the point I thought I was going to lose them.

I liked this suggestion as this was going to be my suggestion also:

Joe said, "I have heard of many people filling buckets or containers and letting it sit in the sun for 24 hours to eliminate chlorine etc from tap water. How long it would take to eliminate anything in the soil from water I would guess depends on what’s in it. I would think most could be washed away with a good rain but I’m no expert in that regard.

Regarding the earthworms, I agree with Keith that the worms will show up when your soil becomes healthy.

Making compost is something that can help the soil as would any kind of organic matter such as leaves, coffee grounds, and even chop and drop weeds.

Here are some threads that might be of interest to you or others:

https://permies.com/t/136950/Vitamin-remove-chloromines-water

https://permies.com/t/68934/tap-water-plants

https://permies.com/t/109733/personal-care/Fashioning-Water-Filter-System

Anne, thanks for this info.
It seems some of the folks in these threads are concerned about the chemicals actually affecting the vegetables. I dont worry about that too much, as i think the plants filter it out most likely and i do have a good water filter for drinking (Epic Nano).  I have been saving for a filter to put on my hose, it is called " Boogie Blue Plus Garden Hose Water Filter for RV and Outdoor use - Removes Chlorine, Chloramines, VOCs, Pesticides/Herbicides Boogie Blue Plus High Capacity Filter - The Organic Gardener's Choice"  Since I mainly want it for the soil (not the plants) I am hoping eventually earthworms will find their way back.  I compost my vegetable matter and coffee grounds directly back into the garden. I had a bumper crop of potatoes and roots this year, --under a lot of leaf mulch--and my salad greens do well, but not tomatoes. I am in central texas, and still learning. I lived in CA for many years where the climate is vastly different. My grandkids are here, and we would do most anything for grandkids I guess.
sophia

Most city water is purified with either chlorine or chloramines.  Both can be overloaded and mostly flocked out.  Their job is basically chemically burn organic matter killing it.  So let them do its job and then settle out the results and only use the clear water off the top.  Mix a slug of high organic material soil with the water and stir it in good.(paint mixers and drills in containers of water be it barrels or 5 gallon buckets.  The water should turn tea colored a bit along with muddy.  Then let it settle out over 24 to 48 hours and pour the clear but slightly brown liquid off the top on your good garden.  If the water is not slightly brown you may not have used enough organic matter.  Chlorine will out gas to the air in an open to container.  The chloramines will literally try and burn the organics and burn themselves out in the process.  The settled sludge in the bottom has absorbed and neutralized the stuff in the water and then flocked out.  You can still garden with it.  Just do it in a separate container or bed.   You may want to do it in the raised bed so you can do run off thru as the chlorine compounds turn into salts and you may want to wash them thru.

Check out Dr Elaine Ingham on you tube.  There are dozens of videos explaining how to fix these problems and produce good soil.

PS most likely it is the salts that are getting your earthworms rather than the chlorine products directly.  So if you can wash thru you might help too.

What do you mean by "highly organic material soil"?  My soil is three years in the making but surely not highly organic if it has chemicals from my city water....I presume.  From my understanding it is tricky to buy "organic" compost as many composts are now tainted with aminopyralids or something similar. I wonder if the soil in the forest near where I live would work for this project And how much per five gallon bucket?
many thanks
sophia

Hi Sophia and Welcome to Permies!

I sympathize with your situation.  While I am not in Texas, we also had a long, hot summer.  I agree with previous posters that about the best thing you can do is to get organic matter into your soil, but of course the obvious question then is just how does one do this.

There are several ways to get organic matter into your soil, and you have already tapped one source—using the leaves from the local forest.  Leaves are a great addition to the garden, so the more that you can add, the better.  I a similar fashion, you could also bring in straw to use as a mulch.  The straw mulch will break down over time.  

You have already mentioned bringing in organic soil, the likes of which come in bags.  This can be a good addition, but the price can add up.  Wood chips are also a great way to bring in organic material, but unfortunately they are not easily available or affordable in your area.

This leaves the possibility of growing your own mulch in place.  Perhaps you could grow a cover crop with the full intention of simply cutting down and letting it rot in place.  This will help your garden in two ways.  First, it will produce biomass above ground.  Secondly, it will send roots into the ground that will also die and add carbon to the soil.  Eventually, those additions of root mass and biomass will add up.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Eric

I will do some searches for quick growing biomass plants--besides my herbs--that I can use for my sheet mulching project.
many thanks
sophia

sophia compton wrote:What do you mean by "highly organic material soil"?  My soil is three years in the making but surely not highly organic if it has chemicals from my city water....I presume.  From my understanding it is tricky to buy "organic" compost as many composts are now tainted with aminopyralids or something similar. I wonder if the soil in the forest near where I live would work for this project??? And how much per five gallon bucket?
many thanks
sophia

Anything organic will help destroy the chlorine products.  Basically it is a chemical fire with the organic acting as the firewood and chlorine products acting as the oxygen in the fire.  The reason for choosing compost is that it contains humic acid.(you can also buy it but it is expensive)(  It acts an an indicator for when you have chlorine and chloramines neutralized.  It turns water slightly brown.  If it bleaches back to clear they haven't been neutralized yet.  Once the water turns a light tea color and stays that color you have neutralized the problem.  This comes from the Dr. Ingham stuff.  Suggest starting here.



As for weed chemicals etc make your own compost and avoid the problems.  Surely you have some place you can safely harvest organic matter from to avoid this problem.  Some over grown yard, a draw, moss in a pond, bad bales from a farmer or some other source.  If not most chemicals are neutralized, by sunlight, time in soil or passing thru some animals gut.  So can you create conditions where all 3 happen?