Attract Toads To Your Garden

When it comes right down to it, they’re pretty ugly. And the age-old myth says that if you kiss one you’ll get warts.

Well, yes, they can be ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are other reasons why you won’t want to kiss one of these. But if you have them in your garden you are very, very lucky. And if you don’t have them in your garden, you may want to do everything you can to attract them. They are toads.

I have two loves in life other than my gardening. One is flying and through my use of drones I’ve been able to incorporate that love into my gardens. The second is nature and several years ago I became a certified master naturalist through the Cornell Master Naturalist program. In conjunction with that, I took on a job with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as a steward in the DEC’s volunteer stewardship program. I’m now into my fifth year of a volunteer stewardship agreement with the DEC that involves work on a remote property upstate that was a farmstead established in the early 1800s and bequeathed to the state about 15 years ago.

The property is just more than 100 acres, but for a horticulturist and naturalist it’s been a gold mine as well as another little bit of heaven. The property has woods, meadows, a spring-fed stream, two ponds and remnant gardens that may be 150 years old. The property was most recently owned by a Dr. Reisser, a German-born dentist who lived in Manhattan but fell in love with the property in the early 1940s. He and his wife added some outbuildings and gardens including an acre of low-bush blueberries and a large raspberry patch. The buildings and gardens were long ago abandoned and, for the most part, the gardens have been pilfered by plant rustlers though a few odds and ends are still around.

One thing that the property has been teaching me is the critical relationship between man and nature. I’ve learned an incredible amount about the red-spotted newt, brook trout, green frogs and the common toad. Each has a link to our gardens and natural surroundings but it’s the American toad, Bufo americanus, that I want to talk to you about: why you should have them in your garden, how to get them there and keep them. The fact is, though, that you may already have them in your garden and not even realize it. But you may want more. And if your garden is organic, your chances are even better.

So, why is this toad so important? Well, its presence is a good indicator of a healthy natural environment. But for gardeners, the presence of this toad means there’s a natural predator in your garden that thrives on eating lots of slugs and bugs. They’re actually pretty common, but being mostly nocturnal they are rarely seen.

You might stumble on one when moving some damp mulch, turning a rock or turning soil in the garden. They don’t need or want to be constantly wet or in water and that’s a common misconception. I recently found one on a pea-stone walkway in Bridgehampton and several years ago I noticed one in the dunes just feet from the ocean in Southampton.

While they do like it damp and prefer the same habitat that slugs can be found in, they are rarely found in water unless they are laying eggs or seeking a mate. During mating season, they congregate at a pond edge or in shallow, still fresh water where the males vocalize, or sing, in what I would describe as a tribble.

You can see and hear one during mating season by following this link: https://youtu.be/UGEcYxX3ohw.

In doing this singing, they establish a territory and send out the signal to the ladies that “here I am.”

The females move into the shallow water and the male will get on top of her and hang on for dear life while he fertilizes her eggs. The eggs are laid in ribbons that can be as long as 10 feet. The fertilized eggs mature in this ribbon for a couple of weeks and then the tiny tadpoles emerge. The tadpoles then live and feed in the shallows for several months and, in our area, morph into toads later in the summer. At this point they begin to feed on insects, worms and slugs, retreating to shelters during the day that are dark, damp and usually underground. They overwinter in underground burrows then emerge the following spring to start the cycle all over again. In a good year, I’ve seen eight or so females lay eggs that produced more than 250,000 tadpoles. But by the end of the season, due to natural causes and predation, only a handful of these are left in the pond to become the future generation.

The toads seem to be homebodies and rarely venture too far from the area that they were born in. I’ve read that toads taken from their home area and moved to another area nearby will always return home or try to. For this reason, it can be difficult to take an adult toad from one area and move it into your garden with the hope it will stick around and help out. That hasn’t stopped children from trying though. Your best hope is to encourage the toads you have by giving them shelter—as in a toad house, which can be as simple as a used clay flower pot—not using pesticides in or near where you want them to establish, or by raising your own.

I don’t think I have toads in my garden, though the habitat’s perfect so I may just not be seeing them. But I’ve got a plan to start a collection next spring with some cooperating tadpoles. Remember, these guys like it damp. If you want them to reproduce you’ll need a spot with standing and untreated water and even a small precast pond could work. I have a depression near my garden that’s just begging to be turned into a small pond. Very small. When the ground is stable and workable I’ll be putting in a small pre-formed pond that will hold about 40 gallons of water. I’ll let it fill with rain water and when the toads have laid their eggs at the big Reisser pond I’ll cut a small section of eggs, maybe 50 or so, and put them in a pail of pond water. I’ll transport the water and eggs to my home pond nearby and empty the water and eggs into it and wait and hope.

If I’ve created the right conditions, the eggs will turn into tadpoles and they’ll stay in the little pond eating whatever and whoever decides to live in it and then they’ll turn into toads and discover all the delights that my garden has in terms of food—slugs and snails—and dwellings. If it’s a wet summer, the slugs and bugs should be plentiful and the rock wall—with no cement—has livable and winterable homes that should be perfect and inviting. I’ll keep you posted. If this little project works, it may work for you as well.

In the meantime, you should become familiar with the toad’s call so you know where to find them during next year’s mating season. Watch for the mating ritual and egg laying. Then you’ll know where you can find a few eggs that you can carefully borrow and start your own toad farm. For more information on toads in your garden follow this link: growagoodlife.com/frogs-and-toads/.

Keep growing.