The Gardener's Best Friends

While many folks believe that "the only good bug is a dead bug", this is certainly not the case. In fact, there are many "bugs" or insects that are truly beneficial, especially when planting our lawns and gardens. Some are so good to have around that people actually pay good money to buy certain insects as a natural form of pest control. Just because a critter isn't pretty to look at doesn't mean it's bad to have around.

Bugs and Insects

• Centipedes: Great predators of garden-eating insects and other small animals.
  
  
• Jerusalem Crickets: Scavengers who clean up dead and decaying plant matter.
  
  
• Spiders: Insect eaters. A one-acre field may have up to 10,000 spiders. This many spiders will consume a million insects a year!
  
  
• Yellow Jacket Wasps: Although pesky at picnics, they are beneficial as pollinators, insect predators and dead animal scavengers.
  
  
• Bees: Wonderful pollinators of our fruits, vegetables and flowers.
  
  
• Aphid Lion/Green Lacewing: The aphid lion is the larval form of the graceful green lacewing and is a major predator of mites, mealybugs and aphids. Lacewing eggs can be purchased at larger nurseries or by mail order.
  
  
• Ground Beetles: Predators of cutworms, grubs, root maggots, slugs and snails.
  
  
• Ladybugs: Great predators of aphid colonies. Can be purchased at many garden centers and nurseries.
  
  
• Nematodes: While some nematodes can cause canine hookworm, heartworms and pinworms, other commercially available nematodes can target specific pests and particular problems. We use nematodes for flea control in some of our enclosures and highly recommend them.
  
  
• Parasitic Wasps: These tiny wasps perform a terrific job of pest control. They control pests by laying their eggs on the eggs or larvae of their target, thus allowing their young to eat the target's young. These wasps are in high demand and can be purchased at larger nurseries.
  
  
• Robber Flies: These members of the fly family are very adept at snagging flying insects. You may not know what the robber fly looks like because they can resemble flies, bees or wasps. Their loud "buzz" is one way to know they're around. If you hear a loud buzzing critter that resemble a fly, bee or wasp, and you observe it as it snatches a flying insect, it's most probably a robber fly.
  
  

Animals

• Toads and Frogs: You don't necessarily have to kiss one of these amphibians to acquire a prince of an insect-eater; just provide a damp environment in your garden, a shallow dish of water and some shelter. These critters are truly beneficial to any lawn or garden and should be encouraged to stay.
  
  
• Bats: Valuable pollinators and extremely beneficial to farmers by the sheer volume of rootworms and other crop-destroying and detrimental insects they consume on an annual basis.
  
  
• Hummingbirds: Not just another pretty face, these little beauties are wonderful at flower pollination. A little known fact is that they also consume large numbers of aphids and other minute insects. A "hummer" will consume more than his total weight in food on a daily basis. As an example, if a 170 lb. Man were a hummingbird, he would have to consume 310 Big Macs a day, in order to stay alive!
  
  
• Swallows: Yes, their mud nests under our eaves can be messy, but the benefits of having swallows far outweigh this minor inconvenience. They consume enormous volumes of weevils, beetles, ants, wasps, bees, flies, moths, spiders and grasshoppers.
  
  
• Lizards: these fabulous insect-eaters are a delight to have in our lawns and gardens. For the first time, we have alligator lizards on our property. The presence of these great critters means that we will have a serious decline in our black widow spider population! All lizards like a thick ground cover for protection, and rocks for sun-bathing. It seems most of our lizards love our red apple and verbena ground covers. Lizards are the true good guys in any lawn or garden. By the way, if you've ever noticed lizards doing "push-ups", they are not doing their daily calisthenics, this is their form of communicating with each other.
  
  

Plants

Below are some tips for companion plantings and a listing of beneficial plants:

• Carrots and onions grown together control destructive nematodes.
  
  
• Horseradish and potatoes grown together repel Colorado potato beetles.
  
  
• Tomatoes or parsley planted with asparagus controls asparagus beetles.
  
  
• Catnip near eggplant deters flea beetles.
  
  
• Marigolds planted in vegetable gardens repel many insects.
  
  
• Mint repels mosquitoes, cabbage pests and aphids.
  
  
• Spearmint and buckwheat attract beneficial insects.
  
  
• Nasturtiums deter whiteflies and squash bugs, and act as a plant trap for aphids.
  
  
• Rue repels Japanese beetles.
  
  
• Cosmos attract beneficial insects.
  
  

In the meantime, take a new look at some of the smaller creatures lurking in your garden and think twice before trying to eliminate them. They could be your best friends!

— Cindy Traisi