Thursday, May 7, 2015

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful: the Lord God made them all.

American toad
Every since I bought A Blessing of Toads, by Sharon Lovejoy, I have worked on ways to attract and keep toads in the yard.

Today was a great day for gardening. Our helper came over after the rain - soon after I found our rose romantic was visiting on Saturday. I wanted to finish the Creature Convention Center and move the logs.

As soon as we moved one log, a large toad appeared, looking bored and placid. I was delighted, learning tonight that toads love logs.

In general, logs left on the ground are great habitats for insects, birds, and toads. We had enough small ones to create circles around the back bushes.

My shallow pans of water are doubtless handy for the toads. They need to hydrate (not swim, not drink) each day. They sit in shallow water for that. I think of the shallow pans as bird friendly, but they also support the freeloading squirrels and the hard-working toads.

Last year a small toad appeared under the water pan I kept under the faucet, to make sure animals always had fresh water near the house. Sassy's outdoor activity is brief, but she does use that water from time to time. Another toad was in the front yard, where I keep another pan for catching faucet water.

Currently I have 12 shallow pans with clean water, and they need tending twice a day.

We finished the Creature Convention Center quickly. It is simply two large plastic sheets, 60 inches by 30 inches, separated by blocks from Mrs. Wright's yard. The birds and squirrels loved it from the start. The blocks and levels create extra nooks for food, shade, and mischief. The file cabinet drawer, with food in it, is often the scene of a squirrel popping out to scare a starling away from the grub. The file cabinet is falling apart in the rain, so we had to upgrade.

Articles Worth Reading
How to attract toads.

A complete tutorial about toad habitats.

Toads get rid of garden insects - at a prodigious rate.

An eccentric article on toads and toad houses.

Reversing the amphibian decline.


Toad of Toad Hall is one of the greatest characters in children's literature. The Wind in the Willows is a favorite of adults and children alike.

The window screen effect is from Amazon, where this castle for toads
can be purchased for $70 or more.

This link tells about building a toad house -
I did the same when I cracked a clay pot from Lowe's - 88 cents.
But I cracked six of them.

This looks like a fine place to live.
Logs, shallow pans of water, and clay pots will shelter and welcome toads, who can eat 10,000 insects each per summer. They also love slugs. They eat a few beneficials, even earthworms, but gardeners give these creations of God all the glory for maintaining their gardens.

Two other ways to welcome toads are:

  • Eliminate all pesticides.
  • Eliminate herbicides and fungicide.


As I mentioned before with the myth of hawks controlling the rabbit population - they have it upside down. Hawks can only grow in numbers if they have enough meat. Therefore, the rabbit population controls the numbers of hawks.

If the gardeners want to kill off all the insects with pesticides and systemic poisons, then the creatures eating them - like toads - will go elsewhere. And then the pests will return without beneficial creatures in large numbers to devour them before they take over.

Retaking Toad Hall

Daily Challenge - Pumpkins as Climbers?

I planted some pumpkin seeds in the compost,
to give them rich soil.
The soaker hose drips above them.



One reader has daily questions and comments about gardening. Yesterday, while the rain was still falling, I planted pumpkins along the fence, to serve as climbers and a green screen.

One of my horticultural promises to Mrs. I is, "I will block the view in the back section." We have a grass no-man's land between us and the houses on Joye Street -  and the back of their outbuildings to look at. The more we pruned the trees, the more we saw. The dogs like to look through the fences and bark at each other.

The first plan was to have very tall Butterfly Bushes create a 10 foot fence, but they are just starting to grow. Another feature of this Maginot Line is sunflowers. My early planting froze in the return of winter snow, and only some of those are growing now. I planted more.

Pumpkins love the sun, rain, and rich soil.
We should have a good crop for the local children and our grandchildren.

I noticed an odd assortment of plants growing near or on the fence and resisted the urge to cut them down. Several are very healthy Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot), a great plant for insects and bees. At least one is red root pigweed, which grows green and fragile-looking while sowing its seeds generously. Pigweed is an amaranth and nutritious. The amaranth family is known for seed production. So - why do I not get out the flame thrower, the RoundUp, and the weeding fork? I can let a few grow in the back and contribute to the compost. Big field weeds are easy to control with cutting. Their hogging of sunlight is their downfall. They do not like being cut to grass height.

The daily reader wonders, "How can pumpkins grow on a fence? Are they not too heavy?"

I had a great experience with pumpkins, gourds, and the Jackson Aqueduct last summer, with all kinds of plants growing along the fence on Mrs. Wright's side. One of the vines lined itself up on the top of the fence and raised its umbrella leaves to capture as much sun as possible. That was probably the bottle gourd vine. Pumpkins got a late start and mixed in there, contributing plenty of greens for the compost.

I am figuring that the vines will fill up the fence, like green inserts, as they look for ways to grow up into the light. They can also spread out on the ground as cover, without bothering the vertical plants.

The main pumpkin patch is the corn area. I see regular little holes in the corn area now, so the squirrel may be digging the corn out that I planted. If that happens, only pumpkins will be planted there soon. Another possibility is the squirrel digging in new food. The little critters personify ingratitude, but I will withhold judgment for the time being.

Columbus gardening fooled me with nutgrass coming up where I planted corn. Once I realized I did not have a corn crop, the nutgrass was well established. I had to pull each plant out like I was doing dead weight lifts - grab stem, plant feet, straighten back, heave.

Hanging birdfeeder


Inexpensive Platform Feeder
I found a great platform feeder on Amazon. I wanted something that let the rain through, visible from our bedroom window.

When we walk into the room, the platform feeder is eye level. Instead of shunning the new item, the birds and squirrels used it after only one day or so. Mockingbirds eat from it in pairs. A small squirrel came over in the rain and ate there. Starlings and finches stop by too.

The platform hangs from a  wooden beam, and the bottom has small holes to let rain through. The feeder is under the eaves and stays relatively dry.

The finches and chickadees continue to use the big feeder, without much competition. The big feeder contains finch food only, and suet for the other birds hangs from it. Starlings are often hanging on the bag of suet, pecking away at the kidney fat.

Falling in Love Rose - only $8 on sale last year.
Our newlywed friend enjoys the fragrance and the color.


Hybrid Tea Roses Blooming
Steady rain will make sure last year's hybrid tea roses bloom. The new roses will probably bloom soon, too.