The 5 Good Bugs to Have in Your Garden...

I will get to the Good Bugs, but first...this spring and early summer gardening season of 2009 will go down as the worst year I have ever had with 'bad bugs' in my garden.

In fact, there are bugs and worms on my plants that I have never seen before in my 20 years of gardening!

I will pin it down to life's cycle and hope for a better season next year.

Now on to the Good Bugs.

Bees

Not one of my favorite good bugs since I have an allergy to them and they really seem to like me.

However, that being said, they really are quite gentle. Major pollinators, they complete the process of transferring pollen from the flower's anther to the stigma, which is crucial for fruit and seed formation. Bees are sensitive to pesticides, so be careful out there.

Ladybugs

Aren't Ladybugs just the best? These tiny spotted beetles can devour hundreds of aphids a day. My kind of good bug. If you want to lure Ladybugs to your garden try planting Yarrow or a Butterfly Bush.

To purchase Ladybugs:

Sta-Home Lady Beetles

Praying Mantises

If you can spot them...great. Praying Mantises camouflage themselves quite well. These bugs grow to 5 inches long and love to prey on caterpillars, leafhoppers and other soft-bodied insects.

The females lay a hundred eggs in a foamy mass attached to branches of bushes.

Lacewings

How many Lacewing insects have you squished? I know that I have until I was told that these fragile bugs lay their eggs at night in aphid-infested plants. The hatching larvae eat the aphids, mites, mealybugs and whiteflies!

Plant Cosmos, Coreopsis and Angelica to attract these beneficial good bugs.

To purchase Lacewings:

Green Lacewings Chrysoperla rufilabris

Parasitic Wasp

The name doesn't appeal, does it? Parasitic Wasps lay their eggs inside the eggs of pests like cabbageworms, loopers and borers. Ok, I changed my mind. I have a borer that has destroyed my Golden Elder...send in the wasps.

The infant wasp consumes the embryo of the pest. Most of these wasps, and there are over 200 species, are attracted to wildflowers.

What about companion planting?

Why not plant some companion flowers to draw the predators to your flowerbed garden. Beat the bugs in your garden, naturally. Try planting some of the flowers below to ward off whitefly and aphids and entice the lacewings, ladybugs, bees and wasp to call your flowerbed gardens home.

Biological control takes longer, but well worth the effort.

TIP: When using a soap based spray on your blooms take note that unlike other substances, soap has no effect on bees, lady bugs, praying mantises or lacewings

Great Bug Related Products From WINDOWBOX.COM

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