Harvesting a Worm Box

I set up my worm box last April and harvested a hearty amount of worm compost at the end of June. Here's how to do it:

1. Tear up strips of old newspaper and cardboard. You'll need a lot. Enough to fill your worm box 2/3 full.
2. Soak the torn paper in a tub of water. Wring out very, very well. Can't be soggy.
3. Add dry leaves, clippings (I used pampas grass leaves and the sawdusty stuff from an old, dead plant). This will pick up much of the moisture in the soggy paper.
4. Move worm compost to one side of the worm box.
5. Bury new food scraps in the new bedding. Worms will crawl over to the new bedding side. Give them a couple weeks.
6. Remove compost. Put any residual worms back in the box to gnash on new food. Spread around your needy plants.
7. Fill empty half of box with new bedding.
8. Keep your girls' tummies full. They work hard for you and your plants.

Hot & Dry Summer

Whew! June was a sizzler and July is following suite. Thank the rain god (where are you?) I have three rain barrels!

The Dragon Lily is starting to bloom. All other lilies have done their dash. Lovely but gone.

I dismantled the two-tiered circle in the front yard and my husband carted the landscaping pavers to the back yard and built a patio. Don't know if we'll ever sit there, but it sure looks pretty with three big pots (purple fountain grass, ginger lilies & callas, one sky pencil holly with petunias at its feet). The ornamental peach is doing well in the center, surrounded by short but gorgeous zinnias and petunias.

The circle is now a simple mound of lantana and an Arizona Crystal "something" evergreen. Much easier to weed, and we all know the weeds never give up even in the heat.