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We’re in for HOT next week, Mon and Tues (94)n both days. VERY unusual for us here in NH.

And we could use some drying out as well.

I was out in the garden yesterday and noticed the soil quality is showing signs of jumping worm damage. Very granular, like coffee grounds.

I keep a bucket with me of soapy water and whenever I see one, drop it in. I must have killed about 200 yesterday alone. I know there’s no end to them but every one less is a win. Fewer eggs for the winter.

We have a weed burner gadget that works on propane and since heat is known to kill the eggs, I thought come fall, we can treat the soil by flaming it. It would take care of other things as well.

However, the asparagus bed is off limits.

I tried a mustard drench for the soil and they really don’t like that. Nor do they like chili powder. The areas where there’s not lots of compost or wood chips, but it
s typical NH clay, seem to be devoid of them. Small wonder. The stuff is packed hard and tough to break up.

How deep would that weed burner’s heat go? When I dig up a jumper, it’s usually several inches deep.

Here, their casings (along with the other earthworms around) are a considerable improvement in any soil I’ve not dug up and replaced. But, we never seem to have a lot of them. In the leaf compost area / “worm bed”, at their height, there might be one, small to large, in 1-2 cu. ft. of soil. In other areas that’s more like every 10 cu. ft. of soil, and usually smaller garden worm size juveniles. Even so, the leaf pile is usually mostly gone by summer’s end if I keep it slightly damp under the surface.

The big jumpers are great fishing bait, but, it is a lot of work to dig up very many, even in the worm bed. Luckily, I find more in the way of more or less std. garden worms (at least 4 different species) that are fine for bluegill and redear sunfish, or used in multiples, even moderate size (2 lb.) channel and blue catfish.

Anyway, back to the weather, that follow up last night did pan out, with heavy rain just to our south*. We got only about 1/4” - ok with me. But now it looks like the spigot turns off for a week and the heat and humidity turn up considerably, more like a late July forecast, indefinitely. Yuck. But... this IS the mid-South here.

*And over toward Osceola, Arkansas, and Covington, Tennessee, holy smokes. The 24 hour rain estimates are literally off the (current) chart!

https://www.kfvs12.com/weather/ (Scroll down to the radar and enable “24 Hour Precipitation in “Layers”.)