The Millipede: Friend or Foe?

Here’s a little creature you’re bound to come across as you work the soil, so what should you do when you find one?

You will often find these little beauties in the soil. They are thinnish (compared to grubs), brown, segmented and when you pick them up they will curl themselves up. Oh yes, and they have lots of pairs of legs (two pairs to a segment compared to one pair of legs per segment in centipedes). The number of pairs they have exactly varies but it isn’t 1000. Not that I’ve counted… honest.

Verdict: By and large, good for the garden, feeding on decaying plant matter and therefore helping to break it down. They can do occasional harm to seedlings and strawberry fruit but this is a beastie not to be concerned about.