Everyone’s heard the saying – “It’s a jungle out there.”
Our gardens are part of a larger living system in which predator and pest compete. Our every inclination is to control and manage our little piece of the world. In fact, we would do well to interfere as little as possible with this balance. Learning all we can about our garden and its many inhabitants and picking our backyard battles carefully nurtures a healthy environment as well as beautiful flowers and food.
Beneficial insects
Nurseries do a brisk trade selling cartons of live lady bugs each spring. Granted, they are cute, a fascination for children, and yes, a crucial control of aphids in the garden. BUT, ladybugs will control aphids in your garden only if they stick around long enough to actually feed, lay eggs and produce larvae who are actually the heavy lifters in the aphid control department. Truth be told, these larvae look like little red and black alligators – not so cute. Generally speaking, cute cuddly ladybugs are released in the garden and quickly fly away to do their good somewhere other than in the yard of the gardener who shelled out the money to bring them home. (Don’t even start with me about spraying the poor dears with soda pop or other sugary solution in an effort to ground their flighty habit!)
Gardeners may find it effective to purchase beneficial insects to control pests in greenhouse environments but out in the garden you would be better off planting to support a healthy beneficial insect population. Mixed plantings with sequential bloom periods insure a constant supply of nectar and pollen, necessary food for good bugs when they’re not eating bad bugs. Many tiny flowers are preferable to a single large flower which can actually drown a tiny insect in nectar. Include plants which bloom in umbels and daisy-like flowers; think fennel, angelica, dill and coriander, chamomile, cone flower and yarrow. Plant a row of sunflowers – now that’s cute.
- From my article in Northwest Garden News, go here for the entire piece.
Above images are courtesy of Wikimedia.
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Never heard about the drowning insects in nectar…..seems like a good way to go!
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