So, any info on presence of spiders?

On the good/bad scale, they're good. They don't eat the lawn. They do eat the insects that eat the lawn. That means I'm happy to see the (tens of thousands) of visible spiders merrily building webs in my lawn.

It means you have a healthy insect population on the lawn, too. As long as they aren't doing damage (and the spiders are controlling them), don't worry about it.

Oh, yeah. Add compost. Kidding. :-)

Thanks morpheus.
Years ago when i first planted my lawn, the first couple of times mowing it (the bermuda was still pretty sparse and I could see plenty of bare ground) I remember seeing thousands of spiders. As I would mow there would be 50 or more under my feet after every step. It could be that they were many pregnant spiders in the wheat straw I put down when i seeded? I don't know, but I was a new home owner and I was freaked out. I promptly bought the only insecticide listed as killing spiders and put it down. Forgive me for that, I was uninformed and encouraged by the not so savvy associate in an orange apron.

So it's good to have spiders, but that doens't necessarily indicate healthy population of microherd?

"So it's good to have spiders, but that doens't necessarily indicate healthy population of microherd?"

Spiders don't eat the microbes beneath the surface. They eat the insects above the surface. So if you're seeing lots of spiders, it probably means you have lots of insects, and doesn't have anything to do with what's beneath the surface.

I promptly bought the only insecticide listed as killing spiders and put it down. Forgive me for that, I was uninformed and encouraged by the not so savvy associate in an orange apron.

There's nothing to forgive. The first time I saw grasshoppers hatch (by the hundreds of thousands) in the lawn I freaked out. I mean, lawn...grasshoppers everywhere...hundreds jumping away at every footstep...eats gras...equals no lawn, right?

Well, no, as it was explained to me (by a master gardener, not a person in an orange apron). The very vast majority won't survive, provide food for the predators in the lawn, and can be amusing. Plus they don't eat that much. Plus poisoning them would take out a lot of things you don't want to kill.

He was right. It was fun watching them grow up, and the numbers dropped precipitously once the spiders and whatnot got into gear (causing a spider population explosion). The few remaining adults didn't do any damage I could see, and their children are now hatching this year.

So it's good to have spiders, but that doens't necessarily indicate healthy population of microherd?

True. At least you know that you have insects, which are the indication of a healthy soil profile (micro-arthropods are part of the microherd, but often underappreciated). Also, a spider that eats has to...er, get rid of what it's eaten. That drops into the soil where the bacteria happily digest it and send it deeper still to more bacteria. The same happens to all the little carcasses when the spider cuts them loose.

It all helps. Obviously those little insects are finding something to eat, so it would indicate that you probably have a good microherd. It's just not a complete assurance.

I do have a friend who's arachnophobic beyond belief. When he was helping me put in my new garden, disturbing the soil drove all of the darker-colored spiders to climb the shadowed cream-colored siding. Thousands of them from so tiny you could barely see them to the size of a quarter.

He had to go have a sit-down. I thought it was a great chance to see the species diversity in the gardens.

i've seen a correlation between spider populations and ant populations. the highter the spider count the lower the ant count and vice versa. does anyone else see this correlation?

I didn't realize there was a correlation, but now that you mention it, we have a fair amount of ants and not a lot of spiders. I wonder if this is an indicator of yard health; it seems fine.