This beautiful little guy lives happily in our vegie garden and at night he comes out and sits on the Marigolds hunting for insects and tiny crickets. He is less than 2cm in length and is completely adorable. His home is just outside our kitchen window and we hear him croaking away sometimes – especially if there’s rain about.
This is an Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog and he has sort of sticky feet that enable him to stick to vertical surfaces and hang on very easily. We have seen these frogs in our garden from time to time but lately, we see this little guy in the same spot every night. He likes to smell the flowers obviously!
Why do we have Marigolds in our Vegie garden?
Meyles has planted a border of Marigolds in the garden bed where we have carrots, beetroot and radish growing. Marigolds provide a natural deterrent to nematodes (eel worms) which attack the root system of vegetables. Nematodes are nasty buggers that live in soil. They attach themselves to the roots of vegetables and then multiply so when you pull up your carrot, it has ugly nobby bits on it that make the carrot look like it’s got a bad case of vegie-warts! Marigolds are more attractive to a lonely Nematode and so the naughty Nematode attacks the Marigold, and leaves the vegies alone. For its trouble, Marigolds render the Nematodes sterile, so they don’t multiply. This leaves the vegies much healthier and also provides a lovely display for your garden, and a home for little green froglets that croak away lovingly outside the window.
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