When composting could go so horribly wrong...

I was really chuffed at the beginning of the summer when I dug out the compost from a rusty old barrel. It was a beautiful colour and there was the most fantastic colony of worms living in the top half with the partially rotted veg etc.

I transfered the top layer into a new barrel, noticing it had a useful tap at the bottom, great for drainage I thought.

Picture my horror today after the rains we've had, I looked into the compost bin and there were worms floating in the water logged bin.

I quickly unscrewed the tap at the bottom and got a fork to try and loosen the compost so the water could drain down, thankfully I had put an old cat mat in the top and when I moved it aside discovered there were loads still alive. After I fished them out with a trowel I put them on the garden to live another day.

So the moral of this story is, always make sure your compost bin is well drained as it can be perilous for those vital worms.