What’s all the buzz about beneficial insects? Well, for one thing they help with pollination which gives a bountiful harvest. Whether you grow apples, cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, beans, flowers or other crops, they all need pollinators. Unless you are using a broad-spectrum insecticide, you likely have more insects in your garden than you might realize.

DIVERSITY

As with any ecosystem, diversity is key. One reason is that not all pollinators are active during the same time. For instance, Mason bees are extremely helpful but are only active from around Mid April until June. This means that we will want to have other pollinators around during the rest of the growing seasons. 

Wasps- I wrote about wasps in another article but I didn’t mention parasitic wasps (sounds worse than they are) at the time. Parasitic wasps are tiny, you might not even see them or if you so, you might have mistaken them for a fruit fly. These little insects help to control aphids, scale, whiteflies, sawfly larvae, ants, leaf miners, and lots of different types of caterpillars. They also harm the eggs of corn borers, tomato hornworms, codling moths, cabbage moths and cabbage loopers. These wasps are pretty awesome if you ask me!

Spiders– Yep, they are almost all on the good list. The reason that most people fear spiders is because they don;t know a lot about them and what they do know are largely myths. The fact is is that there are few spiders, especially in our region that are capable of hurting us, very, very few. In fact, none of the common spiders found in the Puget Sound region can harm humans or our pets. Spider bites are extremely rare and reactions to them, like some people have from bee stings are unheard of. Even better news, is that they, as a group, eat more bugs than any other creature. That is pretty incredible! The more spiders that are in your garden, the lest pests you will have. They even eat fleas and mosquitos. 

Mason Bees– Mason bees have recently been getting more notice. These sweet little creatures are fun to watch and to have in the garden. They are only around for a couple months but they make a big impact pollinating all of the early blooming plants. At this moment, I have mason bees pollinating three types of cherries, peaches, an almond, pears, apples and goumi berries. They help to ensure that we get an abundant harvest. You can read more about them here.

Bees– There are lots of types of bees and they are great at pollinating our gardens. Of course, you could stack you functions and raise honey bees. I mean who doesn’t like honey? But even if they didn;t make that liquid gold, they are such great pollinators that the increase in harvest is another great reason to raise them. 

Lady Beetles and their Larva– Lady beetles are known for devouring aphids and other garden pests yet people are not often aware of the good their larvae do too. The lady beetle larvae eats lots and lots of garden pests as it readies itself to be an adult beetle that will continue to munch on those unwanted pests.

Encouraging a diversity of insects to live in your garden will help you as well as the ecosystem you live in. You can do this by providing places for them to nest as well as providing flowers and other plants that they can forage nectar from. Having a diversity of plants that bloom at different times of year will encourage you to have beneficial insects that hang around during the different seasons, thus better assisting the elimination of garden pests. I hope this post has helped you to look at insects in the garden as possible allies.

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