A Surprise Visitor in the Pot Shed – The Screaming Could Be Heard Gardens Away!

It is that time of the year again, when the Orchard Training Garden Club gather and sort the old pots out. Cleaning out old plant pots is one of those quiet garden jobs that we all take turns on a rota so no one person always gets stuck with the job. We were emptying out old compost with old snail shell here, some dried up plant there, perhaps the occasional woodlouse scuttling away. But every now and then the garden reminds us that our pots are not always unoccupied.

Whilst clearing out a stack of last years pots and getting them ready for the new growing season, we turned one over and noticed something tucked neatly into the drainage hole. At first glance it looked like a small dark marble with legs – not exactly what you expect to find in the bottom of a pot. It moved and then the screaming started! The screaming could be heard gardens away! I like spiders, but even I was “Oh boy, you’re big!” Safely first, put the pot down, step back and then be brave! We took a photograph. Out came the books and we spent a few minutes trying to identify it form the photo - a safe way from the pot.

Looking a little closer, it turned out to be a false widow spider, most likely the noble false widow (Steatoda nobilis). The clues were quite distinctive: a glossy, rounded abdomen, reddish-brown legs, and a pale marking on the back that almost looked like a small skull pattern. It had built a little retreat of tangled silk inside the pot’s drainage hole, a perfect sheltered hiding place.

Spiders often choose spots like this because they offer protection from the weather and from predators. For a spider, the bottom of a flowerpot is rather like a ready-made cave.

False widows sometimes attract dramatic headlines, but in reality, they are simply another part of our garden wildlife. Bites are uncommon and typically occur only if a spider is accidentally trapped against the skin. For the most part they prefer to stay hidden and avoid contact with people.

In fact, they are quite useful garden residents. Like many spiders, false widows are predators that help control small insects and other invertebrates around our plants.

So, what should you do if you find one during a homeschool gardening session?

The simplest approach was just to leave the spider alone and gently relocate it. Tipping the pot on its side in a quiet corner of the garden will give the spider the opportunity to move away and find a new hiding place. This will avoid harming the spider and let us get on with the pot job – thankfully that was the last pot to be sorted. So, with the other pots safely cleaned and refilled with fresh compost were got on with sowing this season’s seeds.

Encounters like this are a reminder that our gardens are not just places for plants. They are small ecosystems, full of creatures quietly going about their business beneath leaves, inside soil, and even inside the drainage holes of old pots. The good news is that having a spider like this in the garden points to our Homeschool Garden is a healthy ecosystem and all the work we have put in to pollinators has paid off.