Bugs and insects are some of the most important figures that help your garden to stay healthy naturally. As well as they also help your garden in different ways.
So here is the list of the 7 simple strategies for attracting beneficial bugs to your yard and garden and all the reasons why you should attract the bugs in your garden:
7 Simple Strategies for Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Yard
1. Try Companion Planting
Companion Planting is known as the planting of those plants that grow vigorously when grown together or near other plants. This method also helps to reduce the growth of weeds in gardens and adds a lot of nutrients and minerals to the soil.
A simple example of companion planting is if you have planted small flower plants like tomatoes and peppers whose flowers are often hidden in leaves as they are small. You can plant bight and big flower plants near them so they all can attract pollinators.
2. Avoid Chemical Pest Control
Avoiding pest control in your garden is the best thing to do if you want to attract beneficial bugs to your garden. Chemical pest control not only harms the unwanted bugs it also kills the bugs that are beneficial for your plants to grow. All the types of chemical pests like pesticides, insecticides, or herbicides are killing everything that we spray on.
For example, when we spray chemical pests for mosquitoes it not only harms them it harms caterpillars, ladybugs, and bees too. Chemical pests also contaminate the ground, rivers, and waterways. Instead of chemical pests, you can use different types of natural pests to avoid killing the beneficial bugs.
3. Add a Water Feature
Adding a water feature in your garden also helps to attract the beneficial bugs a lot as most living beings need water to survive. Water feature or puddles helps the butterflies, dragonflies, and other beneficial insects to stay hydrated in the garden and it helps to attract all the beneficial bugs.
You can also add shallow areas with rocks and small sticks or twigs so the bugs or insects can stay there to get them hydrated.
4. Grow Long-Blooming Plants
Growing long-time flower blooming plants also helps to attract beneficial bugs or insects. During the long season blooming plants give food sources to insects, bugs, or pollinators year-round.
You can plant hyssop, blanket flower, aster, and many other plants that bloom long season so it can attract a lot of the essential bugs in your garden.
5. Grow Larval Host Plants
Plants like violets, milkweed, asters, and many more plants host larvae in the garden as larvae are one of the essential bugs and insects. They provide essential nutrients to the caterpillar which later transforms into the butterflies after they develop properly after fisting the host plant.
Larva host plants also help to ensure a healthy environment for butterflies and pollinators of their upcoming generations as they are also the nutrient-rich food source for most of the birds so it helps to attract birds too.
6. Leave Yard Debris
After the gardening season ends they leave different kinds of dead stems, stumps, branches, and leaves which is beneficial for the bugs and insects. Also, many of the insects and bugs use them as a shelter to protect them from the winter season.
As the season ends the branches and trunks of the plants and trees leave beneficial food sources for the bugs and insects. Phillips also said that “The slow decomposition of stumps and branches provides a continuous source of food for detritivores that break down dead organic matter”.
7. Grow Native Plants
Yes, growing native plants also helps the beneficial bugs and insects so they are the species that are naturally found in the reason you are living in as they are important to the native bugs, insects, and polluters to survive in your garden.
A garden expert Phillips said that “Native insects and native plants have evolved together over time, and many of these insects are adapted to the specific features of native plants, from leaf shapes to flower structures, scent, and color”.
The Reason Why You Should Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Yard
1. Provide Natural Pest Control
Adam Baker who is a gardening expert has said that “Attracting beneficial insects to your garden such as predators and parasitoids—natural enemies—will provide biocontrol services on your desirable plants”.
So bugs and insects play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem of the garden. Good bugs and insects act as a natural pest control for your garden. Chemical pests might kill all those essential bugs that help to maintain the ecosystem.
2. Improve the Health of Your Plants
Most of the insects and bugs that are found in your garden help to increase the health of the plants as said by the public programs coordinator at Mt. Cuba Center, Leah Brook.
Bugs and insects also help your garden by protecting the plants from getting damaged and disease by keeping away the harmful insects and bugs.
3. Increase Pollination
All the beneficial insects or bugs help to pollinate the plants which is great for the ecosystem of the garden. They help to pollinate two plants which helps to increase greenery in the garden as they feed on the nectar and pollen.
A gardener expert Baker said, “Attracting more pollinators to your landscape may increase ecosystem function by facilitating the formation of seeds and fruits that provide energy in food webs”.
4. Support Ecosystems
If you have attracted the essential insects and bugs in your garden it not only helps the garden but it helps the whole ecosystem. As they also reduce the use of chemical pests in your garden.
Barker a garden expert said that “Attracting insects using host plants, such as native caterpillars, will provide food for higher trophic levels such as other insects, birds, amphibians, and reptiles”.
Some Beneficial Bugs List Are as Follows:
- Ants
- Beetles
- Bees
- Lacewings
- Ladybugs
- Praying mantises
- Parasitoid wasps
FAQs
Q. What plants are good for beneficial insects?
Most of the plants that we grow in our gardens are good for beneficial insects or bugs.
Q. What are some of the best flower families for attracting benefits?
Plants like caraway, toothpick ammi, Bishop’s flower, Anne’s Lace, fennel, coriander/cilantro, and Queen are the best flower plants to attract beneficial bugs and insects.
Q. How do you attract insects to your garden?
You can attract different types of beneficial bugs and insects in your garden by planting different types of flowering plants, pollen-rich plants, and long-season plants.
Also Read: Container Gardening Made Easy: 10 Sun and Shade-Loving Low-Maintenance Plants