In the garden, one can often find any number of critters. Well, let me correct that. In MY garden, one can find critters. I do not use chemical pesticides so critters abound. Pop always used to say that we just had to plant a few extra things so the critters could eat, too. That is not to say that I relish losing my prized tomatoes or plump peaches but it is just a fact that I do not wish to poison myself along with the critters raiding the garden. This includes insects. A worm in a tomato, now and again, is not the end of the world. That said, I AM all for natural elimination of the plant devouring critters.
Strung in between a tomato plant and the chives is a large spider web. This is the home of a beautiful orb weaver called a yellow garden spider or writing spider. She is most welcome to live in my garden and I try to avoid tearing her web whenever possible. Occasionally, she gets a little spin-happy and strings her long silken threads across the path so I gently move them to another location. I to not want her to relocate!
This spider does a remarkable job of catching the insects that lay eggs on the plants. It is those eggs that hatch into what we call "worms" in the peaches, beans and other fruits and veggies. A variety of moths and beetles get caught in her web each day and I am sure the same happens at night. My pretty friend is growing fast!
There are a number of natural pest control methods that can be used to keep the garden pest free. My spider friend is a big help as is the rat snake that frequents the area. While a few of my people friends have qualms about entering the garden due to the critter friends, their presence delights me and I continually tell them so!
Every now and again, I find something that sparks the curiosity and gets me pondering about things. This afternoon while I was watering some peach tree saplings, a rather large white blob floated to the surface of the soil. (Yes, I really soak my plants.) While I knew it was an egg or egg sac, its full identity was a mystery. It fully resembled a spider egg sac but most spiders are highly protective of their sacs and are not likely to just abandon them. Either the egg sacs are suspended in the web or are carried by the mother spider. This one was under a bit of mulch in the flower pot. The enigma needed solving so I decided to research spider eggs and learn a bit more about our friendly, eight-legged neighbors.
Most likely, due to the sheer size of the egg sac, this belongs to one of three spiders...a fishing spider, a wolf spider or an garden weaver spider. All three can be found in the area where the egg sac was found and all three have sacs that are similar to this one. Usually, the fishing spider and wolf spider carry their sacs with them while the weaving spider suspends hers in a web. However, it is not unusual for any of the three to hide the egg sac for a bit if they feel threatened. It is all about the protection of their young.
The egg sac had floated out from Mama Spider's hiding spot and was now exposed to the world. The silk case would protect it from the elements but not from predators so I gently layered it between a few bits of dry plant matter and sprinkled a slight bit dirt over the case. Hopefully, I did as good as Mama at disguising her brood. We are back on spiderling watch!
Not too long ago, a friend made the remark that she was calling the pest control folks to spray her garden and patio. It seems that several large garden spiders had taken up residence and she viewed them as pests. Try as I might, I could not convince her that the spiders were the best form of pest control she could get and to leave them in the garden. She was having no part of that and called for help. It made me sad to think of those lovely spiders being killed. It also made me sad that she spent a good bit of money to have people do what the spiders were doing for free. Arachnophobia must plague this dear lady to make her wish to rid the yard of something so helpful.
This afternoon, I tried watering the garden a bit. The poor plants look withered and I am not sure if my efforts were enough to help them at all. At least, I felt as if I were doing something to soothe them so all is good. While there, I came across a lovely spider that had made her home in one of the dying purple basil plants. The spider was nigh on as large as my hand and had spread her web between two plants. As I watered, she never made an attempt to "attack" me nor even looked a bit hostile. My absence from the garden for the past month probably encouraged her web-building but she did not seem to mind sharing "her" garden with me. Even when I was taking photographs of her and pushed my camera just inches from her, she did not look riled. I love these spiders!
Although yellow garden spiders do have fangs and do have some venom, they are relatively reluctant to bite. Their sheer size usually is enough to frighten most folks from holding them but it takes a good bit of rough handling before they feel threatened enough to bite. The venom is mild and aside from site pain and itching, there is not a lot of worry. Unless a person is allergic to venom bites, this spider's bite is not considered medically important. Take it from me that the bite feels a lot like a bee sting! (Been there and done that. Not fun but surely not the worse pain that I have ever felt.)
I thought about my friend and her exterminators. Poor spiders. With that, I leaned over and whispered to the spider in my garden, "Don't worry! I won't call the bug man on you. You are welcome to stay right where you are and rid my garden of other bugs!" I am sure she appreciated the thought.
