I discovered that I have a worm in one of my plant pots yesterday. I have also noticed that I have what I think is a lot of worm castings on the soil surface of the pot. I saw the earthworm early yesterday morning poke its head out of the soil. Now do I leave those castings where they are until I can put the plant in the ground in the spring or do I scoop them off and spread them around to other plants? Should I feed mr. worm coffee grounds while he is in the pot? I don't think I have ever encountered this situation before.



Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny-- I just know if I was that lucky I would leave it right where it is and let him do his magic.

Also on another topic we were supposed to have gotten freezing rain and or sleet/snow overnight, but it missed, It just didnt get cold enough , temps only dropped to 35 overnight. So it appears we have escaped the bad stuff , only rain so far. They are now saying we could still get possible snow later today, but so far so good. 37 here now.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Penny,
That is one lucky plant. I would leave the worm in there to do his job. Any organic scraps will make him happy. I always wondered what happened to earthworms in winter.

Priya
Zone 7, Maryland

Well Penny, dare I say, if you've gotta have worms - just be glad it's an earthworm in a pot! Yeah, yeah, I know...but someone had to go there, so might as well be me...hee hee.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Patrick you are just way too funny!

I wish y'all could have seen the look on my face when that work stuck his head up out of the soil. At first I wasn't sure what it was and I admit I jumped a bit. I do have plenty of kitchen scraps and coffee grounds that I collect in a bucket out in the mud room to throw out into the compost pile but I suppose I can take a little bit to feed him so he makes lots of good soil LOL! Obviously I can't take him out of the pot as he/she wouldn't survive so it will have to stay put in that pot for a couple of months.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny, guess I'm crazy but I have lots of worms in my pots. I have some large tubs that I put compostable material in (sweet pea vines) and I find worms in there or sometimes put worms in. I figured it couldn't hurt. I even bought worms at a bait shop when I went fishing so I could have some to bring home. We were using crickets to catch blue gill.

Joan Garvey - Metairie, LA Zone 9

My fellow Hummingbird lovers thank you so much for the laugh. It has been a wet cheerless day here in southeast Alabama and this post has brightened my afternoon. I have been watching The Food Network just drooling over all that good food. Now I have things together to make sauteed wild mushrooms, steak with roquefort chive sauce, and salad. I have omitted the fried onion rings that The Barefoot Contessa had with her dinner. DH is sleeping and not hungary. Would someone like to join me?

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Dianne,
I watched that episode too on this cold, rainy day. I love the onion rings, but all that cream in the Roquefort dressing! Anyway, DH has requested an Indonesian chicken soup, so that's the menu for tonight.

Priya
Zone 7, Maryland

The dressing was wonderful. I did eat by myself. Just the steak, dressing and mushrooms.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

I cooked gumbo, but the steak and wild mushrooms sound yummy!

Joan Garvey - Metairie, LA Zone 9

Mmmm...y'all are making me hungry! I worked tonight and haven't had anything to eat yet. At this hour, I won't eat much...just something to take the hunger away. I don't like to eat a real meal at this time of day.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

phew.Patrick.. a bit late for a meal..!

This was the funniest thread.. from Penny and her wormie pot and feeding the little guy, to gourmet meals...enjoyed by all.

i have to go and find a picture of a pot with a little worm head sticking out.
the idea is precious.!

not while you are eating your gourmet meal, however, unless you give a bit to the wormie in your indoor plant pot.

i had some friends with an indoor worm farm.. it was a commercially built, five tiered thingy..
It was filled with worms (sold with the unit and shipped by UPS)
(this was in the summer and they ended up 'jumping ship' ( wriggling out of the cargo box) and crawling all over the garage floor..looking for better living conditions..

anyway, they were placed in one of the lower tiers of the box and fresh vegetable scraps were placed in the one above it..
They would chew their way through that layer,leaving their poo, and
then the folks would spread the next uppermost layer with food scraps.
and on it went.
and worm tea came out of the bottom.

Their house in the winter, smelled, er ,a bit 'earthy'..to say the least.
hope no one is eating a gourmet meal whilst reading this.


cheerio
alice







...


USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

No Alice I am just having coffee this morning. I did make French Onion Soup last night. So easy and so good.

The worm in the port reminds be of the movie "The Fox and the Hound". Yes this has been a fun thread.

Joan that gumbo would be good here this week. It is cold today and supposed to get colder all week. Down to 22 the Thrusday night. I will have to cover my cupheas that are sprouting.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

It is going to be really beyond cold here the rest of the week, At least a couple of nights down in single digits. I think I am doing shrimp gumbo tomorrow or Wednesday night.Sun is shining brightly right now but as you can see it is still very cold. Ironically I heard on the news the other day that Buffalo/Niagara Falls is the sunshine capital of the state. We get more days of sunshine here than other areas in NY....could have fooled me.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

yes, Penny.. the key word in the phrase "the sunshine capital of New York"
is /are "New York".. which probably gets 100 days of sunshine a year..

he he

But the sun IS out today.. and that is GOOD ! soo very very GOOD..when the temps are so very very cold.

cheerio
keep warm..

mmm.. the name gumbo just sounds so good.. sounds like it would sorta stick to your ribs or something.!


alice



...


USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Gumbo does stick to your ribs. I didn't make it as fattening as I could have (turkey smoked sausage) and used shrimp and chicken. I had to look up the origins of the word. (I can't remember history for anything) but the name came from the African word for okra, which I did put in the gumbo. It was based on bouillabaisse from the French settlers and the Africans added okra and called it gumbo.

Joan Garvey - Metairie, LA Zone 9

Alice is is SOOO good and as Joane says it does stick to your ribs. Like Joan I will be adding Okra to mine also something I don't get to add very often as it is hard to find up here. I had to buy the canned stuff this time which I have never used before....hope I don't ruin it. I may put just a teaspoon or two in to taste test it first before I add all of it. You can actually get Zatarain Gumbo mix at Tops where the rice mixes are then you just add whatever kind of meat or seafood that you want. Zatarains is pretty good and very quick. I have actually used it a time or two myself
http://www.zatarains.com/content.cfm?ID=10349

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

You can't find it frozen? Tell you what remind me next year and if you want some fresh I can ship you some. If we don't have it growing I have a friend who will. I have okra in the freezer and I don't know how much pickled. We don't eat it but my brother does so I pickle it for him.

This sure isn't hummingbird business but until the weather gets good enough to work with the flowers and the hummingibrds come back we have to entertain oursleves.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Penny,

If you have an Indian/Asian grocery store nearby, they will usually have a supply of fresh okra. We were taught to test the freshness by breaking off the tail tips of the okra. They are fresh if they snap easily. This does not endear us to shopkeepers!
I was looking at the steps for making gumbo, and was struck by the role of okra. We usually go to great lengths to keep okra crisp while cooking.

Priya

Zone 7, Maryland

Dianne,
I have only found frozen okra once around here. I haven't tried to grow it myself because we used to grow it in La. but I really hate growing it or should I say picking it. If you can't talk about hummers and flowers you may as well talk about comfort food LOL!

Priya,
I believe there is an Indian market not too far from me and I know of at least one or two Asian markets so I will have to check them out. Thanks for that little tip. Okra in gumbo is far from crisp.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39