Surf City Times: May 25, 2002
CAST YOUR FATE TO THE WORMS By Dr. Curly

A lot has been written in the past (much of it by me) about the numerous benefits of using worm castings as part of any soil and plant health improvement program in your lawns and gardens. As with any popular "new" product, now the worms are coming out of the proverbial walls. There are literally dozens of Wormy-Come-Lately's selling products out there that are not pure worm castings (even though they claim to be). Let's take a walk in the worm bin for a minute and look at a superior, pure worm casting that Dr. Curly is putting his highest stamp of approval on.

The old adage "Garbage in, Garbage out," certainly doesn't seem appropriate when speaking of a creature whose favorite food is manure. Yet there are a few purveyors of this valuable gardening material that would have you believe that when earthworms eat cardboard boxes their casts are as effective and nutritious for your garden as worm casts from worms that eat more traditional meals. I know, I know, healthy food for worms is a little fringe even for me. However, what happened to the cows over in jolly-old England that were eating sheep? I'm not saying that there will be an outbreak of Mad Worm Disease, but your gardening dollar is almost as precious to Dr. Curly as it is to you, and I want you to get the best material available for that buck.

In all of my travels with worms (Jack Kerouac, eat your heart out) and worm castings I have yet to find a more pure and fertile worm casting material than the stuff from right here in paradox, uh, I mean paradise. The Agrowinn-Fertilizer Company from right here in Encinitas. The Agrowinn-Worm Castings are available at Grangetto's Farm and Garden Supply in Encinitas-Rancho Santa Fe Rd, and at the lovely Cedros Gardens in Solana Beach; ask for Mia or Larry.

These worm castings are much more potent than the compost-cast mixes and provide your plants and soils with the organic matter and humus they so desperately need in our rather austere soil conditions. They don't need to be put down at nearly the high rate of application that so may of the cardboard box eating worms' casts do, thus saving you money while improving your plants' and your soil's appearance and vigor. The Agrowinn-Worm casts are cheaper to use and of higher quality. That's how we're all going to put natural gardening on the map, by using smart, economically sensible natural/organic products.