Frogs and toads are a sign of a healthy, balanced garden
When I was very young, I was quite fond of the book Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel. The book was the first in a series of which I would read in its entirety. While the stories were poignant and about friendship, trust, forgiveness and patience, they never fully explained what made Frog different from Toad, only that Frog was green and Toad was brown and they both looked smart in a jacket.
Frogs and toads appear in literature quite often.
There is Beatrix Potters Jeremy Fisher, a frog who lives in a slippy-sloppy house at the edge of a pond.
J.K. Rowlings Trevor from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone was Neville Longbottoms pet toad. He was given to Neville by his Great-Uncle Algie upon Nevilles gaining admission to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Frog Prince, Danl Webster and Brer Bull-Frog are all famous frogs. The most famous frog of all came from television rather than literature, The Muppet Shows Kermit.
Face it; frogs and toads are appealing amphibians.
Real frogs have smooth, moist skin with long legs and are likely to be found in damp habitats in the garden. Toads have bumpy skin, golden eyes and would rather crawl than hop; if threatened a toad can puff itself up to appear bigger. Toads can tolerate drier habitats than frogs and spend less time in water.
All toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads. In Ohio, there are 15 different frog and toad varieties from four different families.
Lately I have noticed a lot of frogs, or maybe toads, in the garden. While some are only the size of my thumbnail, others are as big as a softball.
Turns out, frogs and toads in the garden are a good thing.
They eat insects, a lot of them.
While most frogs and toads need a pond to breed, they have somehow found their way to my garden, which is nowhere near a pond.
Ill take it as a compliment they travelled all this way to hang out beneath the mulch, in the compost and under the woodpile near the herb and vegetable garden.
A single toad will eat tens of thousands of pests in a single season, typically consuming two to three times its weight in cucumber beetles, cutworms, earwigs, flies, grasshoppers and pill bugs each evening, which is when they typically hunt.
Frogs and toads will eat beneficial insects including worms and pollinators, but theyre far more good in the garden than they are a detriment.
When you find frogs and toads in the garden, it is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Amphibians are very sensitive to toxins and pollutants in the air and soil. A gardener who uses synthetic herbicides and pesticides will not see a healthy frog or toad in the garden. Much like the canary in the coal mine, frogs and toads can tell us a lot about the health of our gardens.
If you dont have frogs or toads in the garden, you can do things to attract them. Add a pond, eliminate the use of herbicides and pesticides and provide habitat suitable for amphibians.
Never take a frog or toad from one place and move it to your garden.