The gardener's little helpers

DH has fed our soil with manure and compost for years (it was very poor) and we have a nice lot of worms now. I was also emptying pots and found worms in my tubs and pots as well! So they must have found their way into the pots over the winter.

I must say I wasn't looking forward to handling them, but they were a lot better than I expected. The fine soil they were in made them less wormy to hold. They were quite sleepy after their journey too, so they were not wriggling as much as I expected.

We "re homed" about 500 earth worms when we moved into this house Elegran. The soil was pathetic and now some 4 years later it's wonderfully rich. We sent for our "pets" from Wiggly Wigglers via the internet and they arrived all neatly packed in their own bedding. I must say when we opened the parcel it was slightly alarming seeing around 500 worms all intertwined . I am not really squeamish but seeing them all together like that yuk

Our DGD's (then 5 and 3) were perfectly happy to pick handfuls of worms up and scatter them around the soil. Chattering away to them as they went along. "Now be good worms and make grandmas soil all lovely"

If humans went extinct tomorrow, the world would carry on much the same without them. If worms went extinct the soil would deteriorate until nothing could grow. If insects went extinct, there would be no pollination, no more plants, trees, fruit. (OK, some pollination is done other ways)

Just shows our relative importance in the global scheme of things.

The worms sold as bait in fishing tackle shops are good for the garden too.

Fascinating - my son started a garden on what was a rough, neglected piece of land. He ordered worms and put them in the soil. He has had his first spring flowers coming up and there are more to come.

These were from the internet. There are three new flowerbeds in the front garden where previously there was lawn over what now proves to be builders rubble with a few inches of topsoil on it. Builders in the thirties don't seem to have been any different from modern ones.

There were hardly any worms in the soil, so I ordered a hundred - they arrived next day in their own tub with nice fine soil around them, and are now in their new home with plenty of leaf mould to eat.

both DGS have just gone into the garden to 'help' DH plant seeds. So I came on GN and this was the first thread I saw. I thought that's what this was going to be about.

They are afraid of nothing!

Yes soutra there is a very cheeky robin in our garden who is daring enough to come and perch on my spade while I'm taking a little breather!

I was doing some serious weeding the other day and the birds were following me down the border enjoying their free meal!

Where did you get them from Elegran?
I love looking in my compost bin and seeing that they have multiplied in there, and then transferring them in due course to the borders.
My garden soil is very heavy clay and I've been digging compost and the worms into it for the last 27 years - and am now beginning to see the beneficial effects