Don't kill the toads - the ugly toads
That hang around your door.
For every meal a toad does eat a hundred bugs or more...

Aw, bless you for caring about a little toad. Where I used to live there were a lot of them and I would find them when I walked the dogs at night. I'd bring them home and put them in my garden. They are perfectly designed for what they do - hide among the plants and eat bugs that we don't want on our plants. God made them ugly to us, but their eyes are liquid gold to show their worth.

Peace,
Jane

Thank you for caring!

Also the spiders that look scary are a gardener's friend generally speaking. Not sure how far your spider anxiety stretches but if you can view them as a beneficial instead of something to worry about you may feel more comfortable with their presence. I think the spiders in my garden are pretty neat myself.

Kate

I love my "Mr. Toads" that are around here (for some reason we always refer to them as male!). One time several years ago, while turning my compost I brought my pitchfork up and there was a toad speared on the end. He had made his little home in the bin. Thoroughly traumatized me and I think about it every time I turn the stuff.

Heck, I even "save the earthworms" when they are out on the concrete after it rains a bunch and the ground is saturated. Have you ever lifted up a piece of something that is sitting on the sidewalk and there are all kinds of earthworms underneath? Well, I have to scoop them up and put them back in the bed - even the teeny tiny ones that you can hardly pick up, or even see for that matter.

However, I do spray (fungicides).......I spray in the daytime when there aren't any toads out and about and attempt to keep the spray on the plant as best I can.

Lynn

I have floodlights so I go out in the garden at night and always see toads as well as frogs in my pond. It is surprising how much life there is out there after dark. Toads are very sensitive to the environment so it is a good sign that you have them. During the day you don't see them because they hide in cool dark places under the mulch. It makes me want to scream when I read here that people drench their soil and these poor creatures with harsh pesticide.

I don't spray,either. Last year I had tons of little ones, about the size of a dime. Never did figure out if they were babies, or that was their grown size,(they didn't seem to grow).. but they were cute. This year I've seen several larger ones, although none of the "monsters" that I remember seeing as a kid. Donna

Good for you! On behalf of toads everywhere (not to mention spiders, praying mantises, ladybugs, bees--and yeah, the occasional aphid), I extend my thanks.

I also thank you..it is truly enlightened to accept nature's plan. A few weeks ago..I was weeding near the front of my house..I saw a clump of something..about the size of a quarter. I got my hubby and we had to get a magnifying glass...it was a open cocoon of sorts and what was there were 100's of baby spiders! We were happy. As long as they stay outside they can live!

I love my toads, frogs and snakes! I feel like I'm doing something right, that I have so many--also, I have a very old house whose previous elderly owner has never "Chem-Lawned" in 50 years, and we don't either (unlike some of our neighbors)--just put up with the weeds and the grubs, for the most part. I, too, feel guilty when I pull out various sprays for certain problems, but as long as we try to keep it down to just isolated problems, it probably won't have much effect on the critters (I hope).

When I was growing up, we had this fish pond outside and there used to be hundreds of toads around it. One day, they suddenly disappeared. My brother in law owns pest control business... I guess that's why. 20 years later, things are never the same unfortunately.

Try explaining it to them. It's pointless. They just see it differently.

I have lots of frogs and toads in my garden. Spraying with fungicides 6-7 every season does not seem to have a negative effect on them. And the only insectide I use are natural pyrethrum tea. I have many beneficials and all the sparrows and tits and other birds are really busy going after the aphids. Hoverflies and lady-birds I have plenty off --- and Ants! So finding a balance between culture and nature is nice. Did you kiss it - it is worth trying according to a fairytale...

I saw a bullfrog last time I was in USA - It was really big and I am sure the fleshy legs are tasty!

I am just so glad to read about so many people trying very hard to maintain as much natural balance as possible. I see the awful devastation of pristine but "barren" neighborhoods like mine... with no ladybugs hummingbirds in sight and plenty of dead baby birds too... I too haven't seen toads forever! I'm sure they've been completely extinct due to the "grubkiller" poisons that all lawncare companies constantly apply as their standard package... I too put strict rules that they were never ever! to use this stuff on my lawn... Much to my horror, the lawn care people again forgot my orders... I was soooo furious! I don't trust any grubkiller, no matter how much the silly lawn proponents claim that theirs is harmless... One of their versions made my "frisbee catching in the grass" dog sick for an entire month... and she wasn't even allowed on that grass until it had a good rain on it, and still it wasn't enough...Likewise, the other grubkiller has only been tested for a year, which is stupid in my view... What they don't test for is long term exposure and health for years down the road... I never trust company so-called "testing"... Anyway, bless the toads, garden spiders, ladybugs, and patterned lizards, and everyone who has allowed them to flourish...

Sere, there is a local celebrity garden expert here..he is quite a character. His name is Cisco..he's on TV and gives lectures at all the nice nurseries. He said that WEED AND FEED gives our pets..cancer.

It is all I can take to not lash out at people in here, and those who use chemicals. It is so true...when you use no chemicals you can see and hear all the life in your garden. Early in the morning we can hear hundreds of birds..the hummingbirds whip by my head..it is wonderful and I wish more people would consider this before they spray and kill everything in the yard. It is disrespectful. But then, our culture in this way is disrespectful. Especially when there are more natural ways to get rid of disease and bugs

I have already used fungiside once this spring. I was very happy to see the toad again today. I have soaked the soil with water to try and keep it moist and cool. I also planted 3 roses. As for the toad, I like it but I did not try to kiss it, I already have my hands full with one prince (and two little ones in training), he he he.
You guys are so funny,
Liane