The little amphibious insect eaters don’t touch vegetables or fruit as they hop about cleaning the garden of everything from caterpillars and moths to flies and mosquitoes.

And it’s not hard to establish a frog colony in your garden.

Build it and they will come.

The only thing many species of frogs require to live happily is a body of water and enough foliage to keep them hidden from predators.

Lachlan Storrie and Chris Wallis from Permaculture Hunter are preaching the benefits of having frogs in the garden after accidentally establishing a breeding colony in their own yard.

“I set up a pond in the front yard, just a small set of sunken plastic containers and that’s all they really need,” Mr Storrie said.

“I put one in the back yard as well, so they had a travel (path) in between (the front pond and) where the veggie garden is.”

The two University of Newcastle graduates have recently started their own business and work in conjunction with Permaculture Hunter to help people establish sustainable gardens and living environ-ments.

While their own garden in Mayfield consists mostly of native Australian fruit, vegetable and herb species, the pair says frogs will make their home in just about any sort of garden.

They also keep chickens and have a pet cat, neither of which bothers the frogs.

And being in Mayfield, the only body of water nearby prior to the garden’s ponds is the storm-water drain, so the frogs will travel to find a habitat.

The first frogs to move in to the Mayfield garden were Striped Marsh Frogs, which are endemic to the Hunter Region and can be identified by a distinctive “tok” “tok” call.

Once they have made your garden their home, others will follow, Mr Wallis said.

“If you get (striped marsh frogs) to move in that means the ecosystem is suitable for frogs,” he said.

“They suppress flies, mosquitoes and of course, you don’t get much impact from frogs on your garden.”