Spiders, eeeek!!

I was planting some more lettuce today, when I noticed a nice round little hole right where I was about to dig. I experimentally poked a stick down the hole, and up came a big (maybe around 1 1/2" diameter) brown spider! It popped out for a second and then scurried back down the hole. Well I couldn't plant lettuce with a huge spider there, so I had to chase it out of it's hole with the stick. I kept prodding it until it went further away, but it wanted to turn around and go back, so unfortunately I killed it. :( According to what I've read on the web, spiders are great pest controllers in the garden, since they eat large amounts of insects, and won't touch your plants. This isn't the first big spider I've seen in the garden, I saw one or two of them the other day when I was finishing a bed. Nice to know I have my pest control system in place!

I think it's interesting that most creepy crawly things normally associated with horror movies, like snakes, spiders, and bats, are actually beneficial to the growing of our food. Whereas cute wildlife, like deer and bunnies, can destroy your whole crop. One thing's for sure, I won't be killing any more spiders!