Allotments 4 All

For the last couple of weeks, my plot has been crawling with mini toads, which must have come either from a big pond a quarter of a mile away, or one in someone's plot somewhere.

Start building toad houses - encourage them to stay ;D

Google "toad house" or "make a toad house"

I doj't think I need to; I've always had loads of toads. It's frogs I don't see often since I got rid of the grassland I started with.

Toads don't mind running water unlike frogs Robert so they might come from the beck near your plot.

Soooo cute Robert! my plot is overrun with toads and newts.

You have to be careful where you put your fork ;)

BTW have you noticed how newts play dead when you distrube them?

thought I had killed it the first time it happened, but they can't fool me now ::)/shades x

They won't be from the stream as it's too fast-flowing and shallow for them. I agree they will breed in flowing water, but it needs to be pretty slow, and have a bit of depth.

Lovely pic Robert. I envy you your toads! My first pet was a toad which lived in the kitchen drain.....twas in the days of the old copper boiler in the kitchen for wash-days? Toad caught its chips one Monday morning when mum did a boil wash :'(

I've always got lots of frogs, tho and love 'em. The nearest pond is quite a way away so never seen spawn.

We get loads of spawn in the big pond by the site; frogs, toads and newts all breed in there. Mostly you can't see it because of the reeds, but they odd year the frogs are visible. I was helping a friend with her garden this morning; she's had a terrible do with breast cancer and MRSA, and can't currently manage much herself. There was a massive frog sitting there watching me. Frogs and toads tend not to go together; frogs like damp grassland and thick cover, while toads like a more open, often dryer environment.

I have loads of frogs and one or two toads in my little pond.  Mine seem to get on alright.  Must be the spirit of peace and harmony that I take with me to my plot. :)

You'll get them breeding together in the right pond; frogs like very shallow water (I've known them to lay in rain puddles next to the breeding pond), while toads like it a bit deeper, so they tend to have different spots in the one pond. When I was in my teens, I used to cycle all over Oxfordshire, and turn over stones, logs, etc, wherever I went. I used to find lots of frogs and no toads in areas like the water meadows along the river, while in dryer areas I found toads and no frogs.