Toadpoles
Last year Mr Chiots and I installed a small pond in our garden. We filled it with goldfish and surrounded it with rocks and plants. Sadly our fish didn’t make it last summer but we did see the occasionally toad soaking in the pond. We let the leaves collect in the pond over the winter to get a good layer of natural muck in it before adding some new fish this spring. We figured this would make the water more like regular pond water. So far it seems to be working as our fish have survived longer than they did last year (last year they got the ick).
When I was out looking at the pond a week ago I noticed toad tadpoles – or toadpoles as we call them. It’s super excited to see the pond swimming with thousands of these little guys. Why was I so excited to see so many toadpoles?
Toads are one of the best forms of “organic” pest control that you can have in the garden. They eat slugs and many other common garden pests. When we first moved in, our garden were infested with slugs and earwigs. We didn’t want to use any chemicals, so layed a few boards in the flowerbeds to attract toads. The next year we saw a big toad and ever since then I rarely see a slug or an earwig.
To encourage toads to move into your garden place a few large flat rocks or small boards in your flowerbeds. Installing a small pond will also attract not only them but other beneficial things as well, like birds. Of course you’ll want fish to keep the mosquitos at bay. You don’t necessarily need the pond, but it sure does help if they have a spot to reproduce.
Toads appreciate moisture all season long, so if you make sure you have moist areas for them to encourage them to stick around. Perhaps you can keep one area of your garden watered more than others, add some water loving plants. You can also install simple water features for toads, beneficial insect and birds by placing a pot saucer on the ground filled with river stones. Make sure you dump out the water and add fresh each week to keep mosquitos from breeding (although mosquitos feed bats, hummingbirds and other animals so I don’t worry too much about them either).
Be warned, if you use any kind of treatment for slugs, even “organic” ones you can inadvertently kill toads, frogs, birds, and fish. So don’t use them if you’re trying to attract toads to your garden. Remember, if you want a beneficial insect or animal to move in you often have to allow the pest insect population to reach a certain level to attract them. You may lose a crop of something one year, but you’ll save so much time and money by not having to use pesticides (even organic ones). You’ll also end up with a healthier ecosystem in your garden, which in turn makes your plants healthier!
Do you have toads in your gardens? Do you do anything specific to attract them?
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Ode to the Dogwood
Each year we wait patiently for the dogwood trees to burst forth with their display. Some years we get a big wind storm right as they’re coming out and we miss their graceful blooms entirely. Every couple years we have the perfect weather and they bloom profusely.
This year is one of the good years. The trees on our property are blooming beautifully, thanks partly to the perfect weather and partly from my efforts to improve the soil around them.
In our area they are plentiful along the edges of all the woods, they produce seeds and propagate freely. I’m constantly pulling baby dogwood trees out of my flowerbeds. We have two very old dogwood trees and a handful of younger ones as well, all of them of the native wild variety. One of the oldest ones is in rough shape and may need taken down one of these days.
Dogwoods are such graceful trees. I love the way they look against the sky, the open airy feel, the curvy branches and the creamy white blooms. They are one of my favorite spring blooming trees!
What’s your favorite flowering tree?
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Inspiration and a Busy Weekend
On Friday afternoon the FedEx man delivered a large box containing 450 bare rooted shrubs. You can imagine what my weekend entailed. I was filming most of the day Sat, but was able to plant 10 shrubs in the morning. Yesterday I planted another 50 more. Looks like I’ll be digging a lot of holes this coming week! I’ll tell you a little more about this hedge when I can get some more photos (this is only half of the plants that arrived).
Last week I posted about inspiration at the Your Day blog. Head on over there and let me know what inspires you.
Did you get any gardening time in this weekend? What did you do?
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Quote of the Day: Diane Ackerman
Just cultivate delight.
Enjoy the sensory pleasures of the garden.
That’s number one.
Gardening really does delight all the senses. The smell of a rose, the dripping of rain, the taste of fresh lettuce, the feel of soft earth, the sight of a flower in bloom, the warmth of the sun, the prick of a thorn. I try to make sure I notice these things while I’m out and about.
What senses do use most when you’re working in the garden?
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True Heirloom Plants
I talk about heirloom vegetables all the time. Most of the plants in my edible garden are heirlooms, passed down throughout the generations, but not in my immediate family. I do have a few plants that are heirlooms in my family. Plants that have been passed down from my grandma to my mom and then on to me.
This Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) comes from my mom’s garden. I got a start of it a few years ago. She got her start from her mom’s garden many years ago. I also have a peony that came from the house my mom’s parents bought when she was a little girl. It was already growing in the garden when they purchased the house over 50 years ago. My mom got starts from it when she had a garden of her own, and she’s given me starts of it as well.
I also have two snowball viburnums (Viburnum macrocephalem) that are starts from a bush my dad’s mom planted down at the family cabin and it’s been blooming beside the shed for as long as I can remember. I was able to get two starts from it last year. My grandma was always happy when it was blooming, she called it the snowball bush. It’s nice to know when I see these plants that my grandmothers grew and enjoyed them in their gardens as well, true heirloom plants!
Do you have any plants that are heirlooms in your family?
