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Category: Liberty's "Victory" Garden | Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:32 am

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I love my garden. I have little doubt that statement reverberates as a global truth among everyone on GardenStew. But below the glorious colors of a multitude of flowers or the succulent tastes of homegrown vegetables, there is an ugly side to gardening.

I'm not talking about dirt. Even dirt, to the experienced gardener can be seen as a thing of beauty if properly prepared and maintained. Despite previous blog entries, I'm not even talking about the need for persistent weeding. Some might argue (in a demented way) that weeding is a way of getting closer to your garden, of getting to know it at a more personal level. I'm not even talking about slugs, aphids, raiding rabbits, or the occasional episode of problematic weather. No, I'm talking about {{{ insert shivers here }}} spiders.

Please don't start telling me about the invaluable role spiders have in the global ecosystem. If spiders were so beneficial they would not have caused me to kill three of my sweet corn seedlings. Understand that there are not a lot of creatures of nature that bother me. Snakes? No problems with them. Crawling things with more or less than eight legs? They don't bother me. But anything with eight legs exactly is more than I can handle.

Now I know there are spiders in any garden. I see them in mine all the time. There is a BIG difference between being in my garden and being on me. Early this afternoon, after church, I was out in the garden doing my daily weeding and verbal coaxing. At the particular moment in time this afternoon, I was talking to a transplanted squash, providing words of encouragement when I felt something on my leg. Fly, mosquito, grasshopper, not problem. But when I saw a rather large grass spider on my bare leg (I swear it was the size of the neighbor's cat), I freaked and fell backwards when I slapped at it. I not only killed three stalks of corn when I fell back, but I ended up with spider guts all over my leg (remember, big as a cat). It took all of my prideful girl reserves not to lose my lunch at the same time.

My husband, after he finished laughing (he witnessed the display while he was trimming along the fence), helped me wash the mess off my leg because I couldn't stand to touch it and then provided sympathy for the lost corn. I had to suck it up, though. After my "wonderful" hubby finished with me, he offered these words of consolation... "I'm still not doing your weeding."


Last edited: Mon Jun 27, 2011 1:40 am

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carolyn keiper wrote on Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:26 am:

I suppose we all have something that really bothers us, I can't say that spiders being, not your favorite, surprises me. Not too many people just love them. I have huge spider bite on the inside of my knee, I most likely got it while weeding in a skirt. DUH!! I would have smashed it, if I had seen it,too.

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eileen wrote on Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:10 am:

Sorry Liberty but your entry really made me laugh. I had the whole scenario of you and the spider running through my head as I read your blog. Big as a cat you say - well no wonder you freaked out!! LOL

I've told my husband that the spiders we have here are eighteen inches between the eyes but he still doesn't believe me!!

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Miss Liberty wrote on Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:23 pm:

Carolyn, sorry about the spider bite. I think I'd pass out if I knew a spider bit me. :p

Eileen, husbands don't believe us about the size of spiders but they do expect us to believe them when they come home from fishing.

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Netty wrote on Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:55 am:

I feel the same way about MICE! I really, really HATE them!

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