They have too many legs for a centipede so they will be millipedes. There are several species of millipedes in gardens that mainly live on decaying vegetation, so do no harm. These seem to be very small and pale coloured so will be babies. Definitely friends.

I agree - friendly millipedes :o)

Now I would say they are the larva of Fungus gnats myself.

fungus gnat larvae don't have legs, from experience with them.

Thank you all for your replies :o)

I just googled images of fungus gnat larvae and ewwww, they're not pretty! I don't think that's what these are because of the lack of legs, plus they have a 'black head capsule' which these didn't have.

Having also just been reading up about millipedes I see they like damp, dark places, especially rotting logs or leaf litter, so my decaying hosta leaves and old, wet bark chippings would seem to fit the bill pretty well for them.

just so you can tell the difference millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per segment and tend to be slower moving than the centipede which has 1 pr of legs per segent. Centipedes are very good as they are carnivores and active preditors.

But as correctly stated you have millipedes and are probably feasting on the decaying bark chips and old leaves.