The Wednesday List: Four insects that are good for your garden
Plenty of insects are simply pests, eating their way through your tomatoes or stinging your face and arms while you try to pull weeds. But here are four creepy-crawlies who can help your garden grow.
1. Bees. A few days ago I saw a bumblebee buzzing around our squash plants, and I was glad to see it. While some vegetables are self-pollinating (such as beans, peas and tomatoes), many fruiting vegetables such as squash, melons, pumpkins and cucumbers depend on bees for pollination. Without pollination, the plants can’t develop into tasty vegetables.
2. Dragonflies. The colorful dragonfly will eat mosquitoes and other garden pests. And they’re also pretty to look at.
3. Ladybugs. Not only is she fun to watch, but the little ladybug also has a huge appetite — and she loves to eat other insects that are damaging to your garden. According to GardenInsects.com, a ladybug can consume 50 to 60 aphids per day, as well as a number of other damaging insects and larvae.
4. Praying mantis. The praying mantis will eat anything it can catch, so it may eat some “good” insects along with the pests, according to this slide show on beneficial garden bugs.
What other helpful insects would you add to the list?
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One year I bought some little green ones from a gardening company. Well, now I have them all over the garden. Not sure what they are called. They jump from plant to plant when they see me coming. I also bought praying mantis and ladybugs, but do not see their descendants much any more.