My hard working worm friends.

Six years ago the ancestors of my worm chums arrived through the post in a little plastic carton. I had ordered them online from www.wormsdirectuk.co.uk. Having geared myself up for their arrival I had already made up their bedding, shredded newspaper soaked overnight in water, so straight into their new home they went.

They must have liked it because six years on their ancestors are still busy munching their way through our kitchen waste. Amazingly in all this time I have never once had to empty the bin despite the mountain of left over vegetables, tea bags, egg shells, kitchen roll, coffee grinds etc. that have gone in there over the years. The worms are not huge fans of onions but will tolerate a limited amount. Fruit is a bit of a no, no as well because you end up with vast quantities of flies that billow out of the bin and into your face when you open the lid.

The worms produce a lot of fluid that I refer to as worm juice. Its good stuff (for plants). My worm bin traps this nutritious soup in its base where there is a tap to siphon off the "juice" which you can dilute and use as liquid fertiliser. When the worms really get going in the summer they produce a lot of juice so if I am going away I leave the tap open to make sure they don't get flooded out. Apart from that, and siting the bin out of the frost and direct sunlight, the worms don't really need looking after at all.

The little wrigglers seem to be most active at night and if you listen closely you can hear the sound of a mass of slithering worms. Its not a sound that's easy to describe in words, suffice to say, its lovely.