Quick Ways To Attract Beneficial Insects To Your Garden

Attract Butterflies With Common Flowers 

When you think of insects and a garden, your first reaction may be that you want to swat at them – when they are preventing you from sitting peacefully and admiring your flowers. However, beneficial insects are very important if you want to keep a garden that is pest-free and well as safe from harmful pesticides.

It is natural for your first reaction to be to spray your garden with insecticides, but you can avoid doing this if you plan your garden correctly. Insecticides should always be a last resort. Besides being harmful to humans, insecticides also kill the good insects that pollinate flowers and help your garden grow. So let’s look at ways to make your garden more beautiful, and at the same time, make it friendlier to the helpful insects that your plants need to be healthy.

The Three Types Of Beneficial Insects

The three types of insects that you want in your garden are predators, parasitoids, and pollinators. Predatory insects are those which prey on aphids, mealy insects and other insects that destroy the foliage in your garden. Parasitoids patrol the undersides of flowers, looking for pests like harmful caterpillars that eat plants, subsequently using them for food for their young.  Pollinators, of course, make it possible for plants to multiply and grow and are essential for flowering plants.  These are the kinds of insects that are not pests, and will make your garden grow beautifully with little or no pesticides.

Making A Home For The Beneficial Insects

Now that you know what kinds of insects you need to keep your garden low maintenance, it’s time to think about how to attract these insects to your garden so they can start working for you. Much like birds, you have to make a home for these insects so they know that they are welcome.

The first insects that you will want to attract are the pollinators. These are the insects that will pollinate your flowers and essentially make your garden grow. You have to attract theses insects early in the season so it is important to get flowering plants out in your garden as early in the season as possible. This lets the pollinators know that there will be plenty of flowers for them to work on throughout the season and they will pick your garden for their home.

It is important to plant flowers of varying heights and also to plant herbs to attract insects that like ground cover and different types of nectar. A variety of plants including zinnias, fennel, dill, umbels, daisies, and sunflowers are a good mix to attract many types of beneficial insects. As well, flower beds should be mulched, so that ground beetles have cover and a place to find and eat the slugs and cutworms that can also destroy your plants from the root system. Decorative stones and rocks are also a good place for them to hide.

Lastly, don’t forget the water. If you have a sprinkler system, there should be enough water lying around in puddles for most insects. However, if you water your garden manually, always make sure to leave some excess water lying around so that insects can get a drink. You may even want to install a water feature to add a finishing touch to your garden and give the insects some water as well.

See also: WriteYourselfRich.net