no worms for me

I am afraid of worms. And I’m also a gardener. Sometimes life brings you to places (i.e. the garden) you never imagined yourself to be in.

In May of 2009, I started a vegetable garden in the side yard of my house. It was my first attempt at gardening after being inspired by the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. There was something about growing my own food that made me excited. There was also something about working hard in the garden that promised to be satisfying. There were also the worms. Ugh!

My friends are always amused and intrigued when I confess that I am afraid of worms. Worms are harmless, etc, would be what they’d say to me. I’m not afraid of what the worms would do to me. I am disgusted, terrified, appalled, grossed out by its appearance (where is its friggin “face”?), its movements (how the heck does it move like that?), and, for some of them, its legs (why does it have so many grubby legs?).  Yes, it’s an irrational fear and I believe that everyone has their own irrational fears. The question for me was, is my scoleciphobia going to prevent me from gardening?

To answer that question, I’m happy to say that I’ve survived my first gardening season despite encountering (and killing) more than 20 tomato hornworms, 2 or more cutworms, and several slugs. Worms zero, me 22+! This season, I’ve enjoyed sweet rainbow chard, colorful carrots, tons of amazing heirloom tomatoes, a handful of bell peppers, loads of basil and thyme, strawberries, leek, and cilantro. It’s been a really fun experience, and guess what? I can’t wait to plant more stuff in Spring!

So stick around, and you’ll get to read about how I learn to take care of my garden, what vegetables and fruit I plan to plant, what kinds of stuff I compost, and how I battle it out with garden pests (including worms!). Who knows? Maybe gardening will help me get over my fear of worms, but I won’t hold my breath for that.