Another Garden Guest

Friend or Foe?

In my previous post about BUGS I complained about the holes I was find in the newly emerged bean bushes, vowing not to plant any more seeds or seedlings if the current ones ended up full of holes or cut off at soil level. A few days after I posted that the plants had grown several more inches and there were no more holes in the leaves. In the next weeks blossoms formed and opened on the bushes, could beans be far behind? Soon that question was answered. Little beans of all colors started appearing. I have since been able to harvest enough beans for 3 meals and I think I can probably pick enough for one more meal. The little garden has a drip system of irrigation but there are sometimes some dry spots which I usually water with a hose to make sure it doesn't dry out. Yesterday when I was watering I noticed a movement in among the bean bushes, looking down I saw a slim snake curled up against the the boards of the raised garden bed. This snake didn't want to meet me or the water coming out of the hose and it somewhat frantically moved around, managing to slither up and over the edge of the border around the garden. It found a safe space under the bucket we use to make compost. Today we found either that same snake or another one (I wasn't able to get a good look at it) making it's way across the deck. From what I saw it looked somewhat smaller than the one I saw yesterday. I am fairly certain that the snake(s) were Garter snakes. They are generally slim and their average length is 22 inches. I did some research and found that Garter snakes can sometimes give birth to a large number of young. Information varies, but an average seems to be between 7-40! Garter snakes are carnivorous eating a diet of snails, slugs, crickets, garden pests. Now I think I may know where the insects eating my bean plants went! Another part of their diet can be earthworms. Our garden used to have a large number of earthworms and now that I think about it I have not seen many earthworms in our soil. Overall I suppose I should be "thankful" for the snakes as they probably consumed the bugs that first attacked my new seedlings. But I do have an aversion to coming "face to face" with a snake or stepping on one.