absolutely. let 'em stay. I did. Check out the right side of the pic.
{{gwi:666439}}

Spiders are a 'must' in the garden. They'll take out a grasshopper with ease. Had a bunch of whiteflies this spring and a spider hatch on the same plant. Two days later the whiteflies were all gone. The spiders left too after they grew a little. Yeah, they're a bit creepy but they do a good job. Later in the season you'll get big ones on your tomato plants so be careful where you put your face when picking. The face full of web won't hurt you but the neighbors will laugh at your antics. Whooeee.

I agree - spiders are good guys. Daddy-long-legs eat aphids. ;)

The stores should start selling spiders instead of lady bugs. I picked a leave off when I thought it looked like bird poop. Upon closer inspection it was a nest of spiders. I attempt to put it back onto the tomato branch but they left :-(.

I do have some spider webs on another plant. But be careful when you go out when it's dark. You may run into the web and screamed like a little girl when you 're surprised. Okay, maybe that was just me :-(.

Spiders freak me out, but I have tons of daddy long legs on my tomato and potato plants. I let them stay. I also have very little bug damage on my tomato and potato plants, so I assume the spiders are doing their job. I just don't want spiders in the house.

Admittedly, ladybugs are cuter, though.

Some 8 legged friends.. decided to spend.. some time in my garden one day...after spinning their webs, the bugs went away, so here in the garden they'll stay..They capture and kill..bugs that makes plants ill..they prove mother nature has a way...leave well enough alone..make the garden their home..
And please try not to spray...

I have a bunch of those black and yellow spiders..some quite large.. Orb weavers or Garden spiders ..I just give them their room when I'm picking..and yes,,,lol walking into a web can bring the scream out of ya..but seeing all them bugs
wrapped up in their webs...ahh sweet justice..

Happy Gardening..

I don't have argiopes (sp?). Good thing because large spiders and large webs would just freak me out. I'd scream like a girl. Oh, hey, I AM a girl.

I watch Ghost Hunters on TV a lot, and I find it amusing that one of the guys, Steve, isn't afraid of spooks or poltergeists or "nonhuman entities," but he screams like a girl when he sees a spider.

Technically they aren't spiders, but insects that just happen to have 8 legs. They are also deadly venemous but they couldn't pierce human skin if they gnawed at it all day. So there's nothing to worry about. They eat pests, so kepe them around. I don't think they spin webs either, so you may have seen something from another spider, which would also be good.

No problem with Daddy Long Legs for me, but no thanks to the others. I'm nursing a spider bite on my ankle right now. Just a real small one, and even though it has been a little over a week now, it is still itching big time regardless of antihistamines. One week ago, I had fever and nausea for two days. That's what I get for gardening in flip flops. But you know, unless I have heavy work to do, I rarely wear boots.

i love spiders! i wish i could get more into my garden...especially the orb weavers!

widows aren't my favorite. i DID find one in my basil a few years ago. i wear gloves now.

The only spiders I don't like are fast spiders. The slow ones are fine with me. Oh, and those black furry ones about the size of a dime who are able to jump. Hate those.

Spiders are respected residents in my garden. Knock on wood I have never been bit. I, too, normally wear gloves.

However, this past February I was planting onion sets in one of my raised boxes and I was not wearing any. I was brushing the soil around when I happened to notice a huge dark blob on my right ring finger.

It was a big wolf spider about the size of a quarter with it's legs. Needless to say I gave a shriek, shook my hand only to have the poor thing land plop, right in the middle of my boobs! I quickly brushed it off and shivered. It slowly tried to get away as it was rather cool day for a spider.

I got to be Morticia there for a few moments, not something I wish to do again anytime soon.

Great story Shelva. Yuk
If I had a spider land in my man cleavage I dont think I could ever recover :)

Wow, Shellva, I shivvered just reading about your spider! If it happened to me, I'd be ripping off my blouse and bra, right on the spot!!!

Shellva, you have my complete sympathy as I have had a giant furry spider drop into my bra too. It's truly a freaky and memorable event as you run around the garden peeling off your tops and shrieking like a madwoman.
(Afterwards, a tumbler of wine can be helpful.)

I now only wear underwires when I'm in the garden because with underwires you do not get the 'gap' which is where spiders drop. ick. MAJOR ick.

A long time ago I was bitten by a Brown Recluse on the front of my right thigh. A neighbor had a stroke and Mom and I went to help weed his garden. I was wearing denim jeans, I wasn't wearing shorts. I was leaning againt a stone dry wall weeding the garden it fronted and I was bitten. It hurt a lot and made a necrotic circle the size of a coffecan lid. It would heal and then the necrotic circle return, but each time the circle was a little smaller--it took nearly eight months for the decreasing necrotic circles to stop forming and for two years afterwards I was bothered sometimes by acid-like phantom pain in the bite area.

After bedding down as a youngster in the open on a camping trip one hot, sleepless, Augast night and having a small thing crawl across my face only to have a much larger thing crawl across my face in pursuit ... I can't help it, I don't like them. Add to that that I'm allergic to insect venom (a mosquito will give me a welt the size of a dime and last for days, bee and wasp stings can be dangerous depending on where) my prejudice is understanable.

That said, like snakes, most spiders are beneficials and would rather not have a confrontation with people if given a chance. OTOH, if a confrontation is unavoidable and/or the offending party is a known risk, I have no quams playing my part as preditor.

Aulani,
Have you tried afterbite (/ammonia) on your spider bite? It's the only thing that helps me with those superitchy bug bites. I'll even puncture the bug bite with a pin so the ammonia can get in there.