Worms

I am currently tilling my front yard by hand and taking out all sorts of weeds and dead plants in the process so that I can then put down some compost over the winter to put in some new plants and such.
In the process I have had an opportunity to really look at my soil . I live in Austin,Texas.
The soil actually looks pretty good ( I will have it analyzed soon) .
I have noted a lot of worms which makes me happy as I know these are great critters to have.
I have seen a couple of grubs, but a lot more worms then grubs.
I was thinking originally of spraying the soil with some bug killer, but now I am thinking that I really don't need it. Am I right?
It would hurt my worms no?
Thanks,
Anita

I can think of very few situations in which you'd want to spray the soil with something (personally I can't think of any at all, but maybe there might be a situation where you have an extreme infestation of somethig where it might be appropriate). Even if you didn't see all the worms it would do far more harm than good. If you're worried about the grubs then there is a biological control called milky spore that will take care of them but won't hurt other stuff. But please, please, don't spray your soil with bug killer.

Most every "bug" killer will kill all insects with out discrimination. Good and Bad!!
A healthy soil has worms, centipedes ( they are the earth movers) sow bugs, earwigs,spiders, ants, grubs, and a host of other little creatures. If you kill bad you also kill good. I'm with Ecrane on this
do not use bug killer. Invest in Milky spore (bacillus thuringiensis) I have put down a second application in my yard. I put it on 17 years ago and then again last year. It cost me $300.00 but it suppose to last for 20 years. I don't say it's perfect but it keeps the grubs down and I can tell by my MOLE population. Less moles the more I know it's working!!
Julie

there an old gardeners saying, if it moves fast, it is a predator for other things like grubs, snails etc, if it is slow, it eats your plants, like slugs, snails etc, but worms are an exception, they eat dead and decaying stuff in your soil and turn it into really good conditioned soil, they dont eat your plants at all, so you must have a good fertile soil to have so many worms, they are picky where the colonise, while you dig, if you find only a few grubs, then stamp on them rather than use any chemical substances, you will soon learn all the different grubs which are sometimes the larvae of good thing as well as bad, while I am digging, if I see any birds around, I toss the grubs their way and they are soon gobbled up by the birds, you should try to encourage the birds into the garden also as they are a gardeners friend too. Hope you enjoy your new garden and good luck. WeeNel.