In order to discourage pesky insects in my garden, I need toads. To encourage toads, I need a toad-home. Here, I document the establishment of a toad-home by moving plants.

My garden, prior to installation of toad home:


My research indicated that what toads really need is a shady hiding spot where they can get at the garden (to eat the insects), but hide from predators (like snakes). They also need to be able to hide from the sun, and dig in the dirt.

The internet suggests two ways to get a toad home. Specifically:
--Plant a terra cotta pot in the ground (boring)
--Buy one at the garden store (boring and expensive)

I determined to make my own toad home. When I cleared out a long-overgrown plot in the backyard for this year's garden, I raked out a lot of viney debris. That, I thought, would weave nicely into a toad home.


So I took the plants that I had moved, and moved them some more, in a weaving fashion, until I had the skeleton of a toad home.


Then I moved my plant-based-toad-home-skeleton into its position, bending it a bit to make a nice dome or half-shell structure.


I didn't think that was shady enough or subtle enough, so I moved another plant and covered the toad home with its leaves.


That done, I needed something else to keep it all in place and hide it a bit. I moved more of that plant debris on top of the home, making it look a bit like an inverted bird's nest:


And thus, by the motion of plants i made a home for an animal: