Nice to see someone else, who doesn't mind bugs in the garden :)

I try to bring in lots of beneficials, by planting flowers and herbs in with the vegetables. So far, it's worked really well. Do you have any special areas, for the frogs and toads? We have a small creek, through the back of the property, but it would be nice to bring some up to the garden.

Last year, we had dragonflies come up for the flowers and the nieces and nephews loved it! It was also fun to see the hummingbirds around the red bee balm...and the bumblebees absolutely love the catmint. It does add a lot of life and enjoyment to the garden.

I have Earthboxes that are planted with veggies as well as my 'real' gardens. Over the years the tubes to the boxes got misplaced. So in several of the boxes there are little areas that are open but go down into the reservoir. I think that's where the frogs must multiply.
The toads have no place special, they just hang out in mulch areas.
I hope that the walking stick bugs multiply because they are really appealling little guys. I bought a praying mantis egg case one time but they did not seem to naturalize, maybe I'll try again.
I spazzed about bugs in my earlier garden years but now I just plant a little extra so they can have some and I can have some.
The only bugs I really dislike are the fire ants, and Japanese beetles which I fortunately don't have, but remember my grandfather's garden having scourges of them from time to time when I was very young which was more than a few years ago:)

I like the extra commotion the bugs bring as well, and am always extra careful not to run over a toad with the lawn mower. One of the poopers I had a few years ago was a fat little green worm that started to devour my brussels sprouts. But these awesome black wasplike things came to the rescue. They would actually attack them, cut them in pieces, and carry them off. It was the most fascinating/disgusting thing I've ever seen in the garden. ;)

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the BBC series 'Life in the Undergrowth'. Fascinating bugs-eye view of things.

Here is a link that might be useful: Life in the Undergrowth

I'm fixing to order some praying mantis egg cases, hopefully this time they will hatch and thrive.