Simply put, attracting good insects to your garden will help to protect your plants from pests that are invasive and destructive.
If you’re weary of dealing with insects, you could start off with an indoor microgreens growing kit. This way, you can harvest greens quickly & organically, without having to deal with any unwanted pests.
However, if you’re wanting to plant a traditional backyard garden, you’ll want to learn about which insects are actually beneficial to your plants & how you can attract them. This is especially true during the fall & winter seasons.
The good insects will pollinate your garden, helping your plants to produce a plentiful harvest for you. If you don’t have natural pollinators, you’ll have to do it by hand, which may be a tedious and time-consuming, depending on the size of your garden.
Pollinators you’ll want to attract include bees and butterflies. But did you know that your garden may be pollinated by a variety of different insects?
Flies, moths, wasps, and even ants and beetles are among them, but you may wish to discourage them from your garden as well. Beetles that eat the leaves of your microgreens & other plants are an example of a pollinator that may also be a nuisance.
While you may consider flies to be an annoyance, some, such as the hoverfly, enjoy pollinating flowers and, when they lay eggs, the larvae feed on invasive pests that would otherwise destroy your garden.
Other insects consume and kill your plants, so they’re prey for them. Ladybugs are beneficial to a food garden because they consume aphids, which nibble on the stems, fruit, and flower buds of your plants.
Leave a praying mantis alone if you encounter one in your yard! Grasshoppers will be kept out of your garden since they will consume the produce. Praying mantis, on the other hand, have a wide diet and may eat other beneficial insects.
Spiders, as scary as they sometimes are, assist to keep pests out of your garden. So, if you see them loitering around looking for insects to eat, you might want to leave them alone. The next step is to get the beneficial insects to come to you.
Some, such as ladybugs, may be purchased in quantity and released into your garden. Plants, on the other hand, can be used to attract people. In certain circumstances, you might not want them directly mixed in with your crops, but strategically close.
Consider colorful, blooming plants like daisies, as well as anything that flowers, such as carrots, goldenrod, mint, and fennel. You can attract pollinators and pest controllers by planting a variety of herbs and flowers.
Peace …
RKR 🌱