To the novice gardener, attracting bugs to your garden seems anything but a worthy goal. However, there are certain types of beneficial insects that are essential to the health of your garden and the health of your local ecosystem.
Beneficial insects help support ecological balance and can discourage some pests that pose a threat to your favorite plants. Insects like bees, ladybugs, spiders and more have something to offer your garden. To learn more about why this is, read through this guide to beneficial insects in your garden.
Understanding Beneficial Insects
Before we get into the details, let’s cover some of the main ways insects can be beneficial in the garden. Overall, beneficial insects support the health and vitality of your garden plants in more ways than one.
First, many beneficial insects are vital pollinator species that not only help your plants reproduce but also enhance the well-being of your local environment. The impact and importance of these pollinators It cannot be underestimated, as both the natural world and human agriculture are heavily dependent on them.
The second vital way that beneficial insects help a garden is through pest control. While there are many insects that will harm your plants, some of the beneficial insects we will mention shortly are natural predators of these harmful pests.
Beneficial insect species
Now that you understand the basics behind why some insects are beneficial to gardens and others are not, it’s time to introduce you to some of the beneficial insects that could become your most welcome garden guests. Some of the insects below are perfect for pollination, while others will help you eliminate and prevent pest infestations.
Ladybugs
Among the most common garden pests that gardeners struggle to control are aphids. Aphids suck the sap of many types of plants, which eventually kills those plants. Fortunately, ladybugs love to eat aphids, so having them in your garden is likely to eliminate any aphid problems.
Lady bugs are attracted to several types of herbs, including dill and cilantro. They also like flowers such as daisies and geraniums. Planting any of these herbs or flowers in your garden is a great way to attract aphid-eating ladybugs to your property.
Bees
Bees are some of the most efficient and well-known pollinator species out there, so it’s no surprise that it’s a good idea to attract bees to your garden. These busy insects love many different types of flowers, including stars, conifersbee balm, sunflowerslavender and more. Plant them to attract bees, and you’ll likely see a lot of them too butterflies!
If you have fruit-bearing plants in your garden, the presence of bees alone will probably be enough to facilitate their pollination and fruit production. Additionally, bees will also work to pollinate other plants in your neighborhood and beyond, leading to a healthier local ecosystem for you and your neighbors.
Praying mantises
When it comes to pest control, mantises are some of the best beneficial insects you can attract to your garden. Praying mantises eat many types of harmful insects, including aphids, mosquitoes, and various types of beetles.
To attract praying mantises to your garden, you’ll need to provide them with cover, as well as some plants they love. Try planting some low-growing plants that will give a praying mantis a safe and secluded area where it can rest and prepare to hunt down insect pests. Plants such as marigolds and various herbs can also be very attractive to praying mantises.
Spiders
Although there are many people who are afraid of spiders, there is no reason to exclude them from your garden. It turns out that spiders are experts at catching and consuming garden pests like wasps, aphids, mosquitoes and more before they become a nuisance.
Spiders are usually on the move during the spring months, what is the best time to attract them to your garden. Try adding loose piles of mulch or other plant debris during the spring. These piles will serve as the ideal location where a spider can get comfortable and start building a web that will catch insects.
Green laces
Along with aphids, mealybugs, mites, thrips and scale insects are some of the most common garden pests. The good news is that green lacewings love to eat all those pesky garden pests.
As with other beneficial insects in this article, green lacewings are attracted to a variety of types herbsincluding dill and coriander. They love too flowering plants like the universe and sunflowers. Ultimately, the best way to invite beneficial insects is to have a garden filled with many species of plants that lacewings love.
Creating a haven for beneficial insects
Biodiversity and native plants are essential for attracting beneficial insects to your garden. In other words, planting a wide variety of native flowering plants and herbs is the best way to entice beneficial insects to make your garden their home. This is good news, because all you have to do is add some beautiful flowers to some hanging baskets, plantersor a flower bed!
However, attractive plants are not the only feature that beneficial insects need. You should also make sure that your garden provides the food, water and shelter that these insects need. Only when these traits are present will beneficial insects thrive among your garden plants. Consider the attraction hummingbirds with feeders, for example. Sure they are out there without the feeder in place, but that food is what brings them right into your home… do the same with the plants in your yard!
Buying Insects Online Vs. Attract them to your garden naturally
Some gardeners are tempted to buy their beneficial insects online as a quick way to introduce them to their gardens. This can be a good solution if you are looking to deal with a bad pest problem. For long-term benefits, however, this is not always the best approach.
Many insects available for purchase online have been caught from the wild. This is problematic because they are moving away from other ecosystems where they belong. It also means they may not be suitable for your climate. Sometimes, some beneficial insect packages may even include insects that are invasive to your area. This will definitely end up doing more harm than good! Finally, insects you buy online may be dispersed instead of staying in your garden.
For these reasons, it is usually best to attract beneficial insects to your garden naturally. Planting attractive plants, treesand providing food, water and shelter is the best way to ensure that beneficial insects remain in your garden for years to come.
The effect of beneficial insects on garden health
The presence of beneficial insects helps the plants in your garden stay healthy and free of pests. This result comes with the added benefit of reducing the amount of potentially harmful chemical pesticides you need to apply. Beneficial insects also play a key role in pollination, which will make any of your fruit plants more productive so you can enjoy a bigger harvest each year.
Overall, inviting and supporting beneficial insects makes your garden healthier and more vibrant in the long run. By encouraging these insects, you will also be doing your part to ensure that your surrounding ecosystem also remains healthy and balanced.
Conclusion
I hope this post has made it clear that there are many beneficial insects that you should actively invite into your garden. These insects help with pollination, pest control and general environmental health. If you want to do your part to promote ecological balance, one of the best approaches you can take is to start attracting beneficial insects to your garden today! Then check out our posts on DIY Wasp Traps, how to use crops in your home gardenor maybe drought tolerant perennials!
