What is the benefit of having spiders in the garden? That is a rhetorical question, I am not really asking. As a gardener, I know the benefits of having a predator live in my garden. Making the garden hospitable to spiders, and allowing them to biologically control garden pests, is all part of gardening chemical free and being as natural as possible. I am not a hippy or anything like that; I wanted to have bugs in my garden to photograph so I decided I would stop using bug sprays, and just let nature take its course. For the most part, it has worked out fabulously and I have no regrets. Although, nothing challenges my commitment to natural methods of pest control more than seeing the garden covered in spider webs during the summer. Spider webs like this one I took in the garden recently. If you have a fear of spiders close your eyes for a second and think of England as you scroll down past this picture of a spider and its web.
Still here?
Spiders can be good for your garden. Nothing eats as many garden pests as spiders do. Their appetite is voracious and observing one in the garden is both thrilling and meditative. These little creatures can spend all day rebuilding a web after it has been damaged in the hopes of catching yet another meal. I cannot help but cheer watching a spider catch a wasp or an earwig. Yet nothing makes me feel stabbier than when one catches a ladybug, honeybee or butterfly. Spiders do not discriminate- someone should put them in charge of rental properties, human resources and airline security-they will eat anything!
Because of their very nature, having too many spiders in the garden is a bad thing. They will quickly colonize a suitable environment and do away with all bugs, good and bad. What makes a garden suitable for spiders? Tall plants like the purple coneflowers in the background of the picture above made good places for spiders to build a web. Also popular are the fence, trellis and perennials planted too close together. I have found that the underside of broad leafed perennials like hostas make good spaces for smaller spiders who will lay eggs were the leaves meet the stems. Leave a terracotta pot laying on its side in the garden and spiders will build a web or nest and catch some of the pests that crawl around the garden.
Even though the spiders in my garden and I have an understanding that does not mean they do not creep me out. I have been known to collect a spider or two on a yard stick and fling them out into the sidewalk if they are too close when I am weeding or watering the garden. I’m all about natural methods of pest control, but even I have my limits. What is the benefit of having spiders in the garden? That's not really a rhetorical question. It's a mantra I have to keep repeating to myself every time I feel creeped out by spiders to remind me that they're good to have in the garden.
What a great photo! I love spider webs - even when I have to walk thru them to get to the car every morning! Guess spiders aren't all that smart if they re-build in the same place day after day, only to get them torn down by folks like me!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Webb. It looks a little blurry. If I had known uploading it to Blogger would've made it look less sharp I would've processed it some more. That is a very astute and funny observation about spiders. I wonder if they know how dumb they are. :0)
ReplyDeleteToo bad they don't eat slugs...
ReplyDeleteI like spiders in the garden! Funny we should both posted spiders in gardens in the same day.
ReplyDeleteLove the spider web--it's hard to get the light right to photograph them! As you know, I love spiders. I just take any I find indoors outdoors. I just wish I had bats. (No, "in the belfry" doesn't count. Thanks for asking!)
ReplyDeleteGood to know spiders eat pests. Ok I shall not kill them or even spoil their web/home next time :-D
ReplyDeleteThis post made, me laugh. I've often tried to tell myself they are a good thing to have in the garden, but often found myself killing them when one would pop out and end up on my glove (followed by me doing a "i just had a spider on me..bleh!" dance
ReplyDeleteThis post made me laugh too! I currently have 3 golden orb weavers in 2 of my planting beds (these suckers are HUGE) with beautiful orbs and shoestrings. I also have a little guy building a web from the overhanging Mulberry tree to the roof of my car. Every morning when I go to school, I get a large, long stick and gently prod him back up into the tree before I wrench his home out from under him as I back out of the driveway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for spreading the good word about our little 8-legged garden friends - so misunderstood are they!
I can relate, as I HATE spiders with a passion. They creep me out. However I have learned to live with them outside. I have so many garden spiders, and they don't bother me (as long as they don't touch me). I don't fling them, but I will take a stick and move them elsewhere if they are in my way. However if they were in my house, it would be a totally different story.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I get ya. I get lots of spiders in my evergreen bushes and my creeping phlox. If they get too thick I blast them with the 'jet' setting on my hose sprayer. Spiders way creep me out, but I leave them alone for the most part...unless they exceed certain size limitations. For instance I was watering the other day and saw one that was so large I could see the hairs on its legs...it was so big it was staring me down. I blasted it with the jet setting...it scuttled away. I had the willies for the rest of the day. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article. You really helped me see the positive side to these buggers. I have been so frightened in the past when I run into webs without knowing and find a hitch hiking spider on my shoulder or chest. My husband always knows when this happens because he can hear a scream coming from the garden.
ReplyDeleteI found your article while looking for the life cycle of a garden spider. I've lived here 12 years and each year one builds her nest in the corner of my picture window. I hate spiders and they give me chills but this ritual has become a tolerable exercise. I can observe her from inside and out. From inside without hair raising fear and we have developed a margin of respect. I will never love spiders but she and her offspring are allowed to share a small corner of shelter that my window provides.
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