Good Bugs for Your Garden and Yard

 

 

There are many types of bugs, not all of them are bad for your yard. There are many good bugs for your garden. Good gardeners know the advantages of good bugs.

Several insects, spiders and also invertebrates that are classified into the generic “bug” category can be useful in the garden. Read on and learn the best bugs for your garden and how to attract them.

 

Bees and Ants

 

Bees are useful in pollination; they are widely responsible for the nuts, berries, seeds, fruits and vegetables in the food chain. Encourage bees by growing flowering plants in your garden. You should welcome ants as well, they are ardent predators and will pick your garden clean of pests.

 

Caterpillars

 

Moths and butterflies are gorgeous insects and are also pollinators. Even better, their caterpillars attract birds. Having these insects in your garden means you’re attracting birds.

 

Wasps

 

There are numerous wasp species, including many that are so tiny that you can hardly see them. These wasps often feed on eggs of pests and are fundamental insect groups in the control of garden pests. You can attract them by growing nectar and pollen plants.

 

Ladybugs

 

Welcome, these attractive insects into your garden to feed on mealybugs, aphids and other soft-shelled insects. Attract them by planting crops like golden Marguerite and cornflower.

 

Hover-flies

 

They look like small bees with striped abdomens and are a great natural predator to have in your garden. Attract adults to your garden with pollen and nectar rich plants such as buckwheat. Their larvae feed on aphids and other harmful insects and are helpful in early spring before other insects are active. They also pollinate raspberries and strawberries producing larger fruits and better yields.

 

Ground beetles

 

They are large, shiny blue-black or brown-rounded beetles that hide under logs and rocks during the day. They will protect your grass and flowers by feeding on cutworms, snails, slug eggs and root maggots. You can attract them by providing constant ground covers and placing logs or stones to create the humid, dark environment that they love.

 

Spiders

 

Spiders feed on insects and are vital in controlling pests’. They’re some of the most helpful garden bugs, but they’re also the most maligned. Those found in gardens don’t move indoors and are not poisonous. You should consider planting perennial plants and provide straw mulch that will provide shelter and rapidly increase their population in your garden.

 

Tachinid Flies

 

Although they look like houseflies, these flies are excellent for controlling cabbage loppers, sow bugs, squash bugs and cutworms in your garden. Grow pollen and nectar plants to attract them.

 

Lacewings

 

Brown or pale green lacewing adults have distinctive long, delicate veined wing and feed on flower nectar. Green lacewings can reproduce four times in a year. Lacewing larvae are important in preventing the “bad bugs” in your garden. They are ravenous predators that feed on aphids, mites and moth eggs. Ensure your garden has herbs with pollen rich flowers to provide the pollen that lacewings are looking for.

 

Now you know some of the good bugs for your garden and what you can do to attract them. These good bugs will be useful in keeping your garden healthy.

 

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