Making your garden frog-friendly may not seem like the wisest choice, especially if the thought of frogs makes your spine crawl. Yet these amphibious creatures are one of the best critters that you could encourage into your garden.

A garden without frogs is like a safari park without lions. These seemingly innocuous creatures may look cute and friendly but they are the terror of the waterways, menacing their pray with an almost pacifying stealth.

What you may not know about the garden frog is that they can cope with climate diversity like no other animal. It's not uncommon to find them in the snowfields or even surviving in desert wastelands. Yet each species has their own territory and preferred conditions and removing them from these habitats is quickly causing their demise.

It's best not to introduce frogs into your garden because if the conditions are not perfect they may die, leave your garden or wreck habitats of other frogs that live in the area. Instead seek to encourage them into your garden and they will come.

What are the benefits of frogs in the garden?

Creating a place for garden frogs in your yard is very beneficial. Frogs are bug and critter devourers and will feast on many of the your problematic garden pests. Mosquito larvae, sowbugs and caterpillars are all common delicacies for the garden frog.

Plus, they will often forage on the outer foliage of some plants - especially vegetables. These leaves are most accepted by them when they are in some state of decay which means they are often unfit for human consumption.

If you have children living with you an added benefit is allowing them to interact with your frogs. Children will always find these amphibians delightful, even if they aren't prepared to pick them up or hold them. BTW - if you do try to pick up a garden frog makre sure your hands are moist so that you don't hamr their protective skin.

The downside of encouraging frogs is that they are common food for snakes which may, in turn, bring these undesirables into your garden as well.

How to encourage frogs into your garden

While most gardeners tend to opt for a specific frog pond it's not essential to do this. Provided that frogs can have access to pools of water, whether it be in a bucket or an unused bird bath, they will find your garden hospitable. In fact, the more moist your garden is the more chance frogs will start to inhabit your yard.

The benefit of having a frog pond is that you have more control over what takes place in them. Allowing pools of water to occur in your garden may not be a good form of mosquito control so if mosquitoes are a common pest in your yard then a pond may be the best option.

A pond that encourages garden frogs is one that is not too deep, offers some plant life for protection and food, rocks for sunning on and still places to breed. These ponds can accomodate some fish but choose varieties that aren't likely to find frog larvae or tadpoles a desirable food source.

And, if these reasons for starting a frog garden weren't persuasive enough for you, then consider that tomorrow is the 1st Annual 'Save The Frogs Day'.