Creepy-crawlers of the night!

Have you ever pondered what an amazing creature the Nightcrawler is?  Probably not.  There are not many folks in the world that even care about things that crawl under the soil.  Then, there are those that see worms and such as "icky" and try to rid their yards of the things.  Not me!  I like Nightcrawlers or earthworms as they are better known!  For anyone that has a garden and has any knowledge of what a worm does, Nightcrawlers are welcome guests!  In my garden, the worms have the freedom to multiply as much as they like.  I even try to encourage the critters to reside in my garden!  Why, I have even gone so far as to relocate some that were in areas that might not be conducive to their growth!  For instance, if I find any that are in a hostile environment (aka..a fire ant infested area), I will carefully grab as many as I can and move them to the  freshly turned garden soil!  There they can eat and slither around to their heart's content all the will fertilizing and aerating my garden!  That sounds like a win/win situation to me!  Normally during the winter months, it is quite difficult to find earthworms.  I think they must bury themselves deeper into the ground to avoid the chill.  Today, however, the garden area was alive with the critters!  With the temperature climbing up the thermometer to almost seventy degrees, the ground was warm enough for the worms to grab a bite of the mulching leaves.  When I was in the Rose Garden, on impulse I pulled back a bit of the mulch and found a good number of the critters!  Some were almost ten inches in length!  I guess that means they are well fed and happy!

For those who do not know, an earthworm's digestive track runs the full length of its body.  So anything that goes in the mouth comes directly out the other end.  This digestive tract is why gardeners adore the Nightcrawlers.  The more worms in the garden..the better the soil!  These guys are living fertilizer factories! Another thing that is a little known fact..it is possible to tell the front end from the back end of an earthworm!  If you look carefully at your friendly little wiggly worm, it is actually made up of segments.  At one end there is a "band" that goes around the worm..sort of like it might be wearing some fancy bracelet..if it had arms..which it does not so I suppose the bracelet analogy just flew out the window!  Anyway, this band is part of its reproductive system..it is located at the front end of the worm.  Oh...and just so you will know..it is impossible to tell a male earthworm from a female...simply because they are both.  Earthworms are hermaphrodites.  Back to the digestive track, if you want healthy worms in your garden, provide them with plenty of leaf mulch and absolutely no nasty poisons!  That should tell you something right there...if Nightcrawlers are killed off by toxic sprays and chemical fertilizers, you might be as well!  If something is poisonous to a worm, chances are, it is poisonous to humans!  Don't dump all that garbage in your garden!  Keep a balance of nature and your garden will flourish..and that means to keep those Nightcrawlers happy!