It takes a village...homes for toads in the garden...

It takes a village; and so there's a village growing in my garden. Like a creche in terra cotta, damaged clay pots and saucers are being set out near plants that would be normally be fodder for slugs and other creatures in the hopes that a burgeoning Bufo americanus, or American Toad, population will create a concomitant drop in pest numbers.

All they require is a moist, protected area (although vernal pools--those that are wet in spring and then disappear--are necessary if they are to breed). We're so good at cleaning up our yards, borders, and gardens--eliminated brush, stumps, downed logs, moist areas and rock--that we've left them nowhere to go. They'll often find and occupy inverted clay pieces (think cool and moist) if they are available in the neighborhood.

Toads are low profile, low impact tenants who get housing in exchange for work. They are IPM (integrated pest management) experts, eating slugs, insects, earthworms and small invertebrates. They sing lustily and have a fascinating natural history (see the new book, The Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State: Identification, Natural History, and Conservation, by James P. Gibbs, et al, Oxford University Press, 2007).

The fashionable homes may also attract a salamander or two--with the same diet and appetite. They have the added benefit of having larvae that eat mosquito larvae as they develop.

If you're one of those who can only think of warts, bumps and ugliness when you hear about toads---get over yourself; or watch the slugs in your garden take over the world.

So don't toss those pots; put them to good use. Give a toad a home and reduce the pest population in your garden. Besides...it's sort of a good look. You'll get that 'old-world, garden-ruin, faded-elegance' feel. It's free, it's chic, and it should be part of your IPM program.

Go ahead...I dare you. Bust a pot today!

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