Attracting Beneficial Insects
Bees, Butterflies, and Ladybugs are Helpful in the Vegetable Garden
Attracting helpful insects such as bees, butterflies and ladybugs to the vegetable garden is easy to do by adding beautiful feature plants to the patch.
Bugs and insects are considered by many to be pests in the yard, but to a vegetable gardener, some insects are absolutely essential! Without bees in the garden, fulfilling their important role as pollinators, there would be no pumpkins, squash or cucumbers. Fortunately, attracting beneficial insects is easy, and with the addition of several interesting plants, a vegetable garden can become hard for any pollinator to resist.
What are Beneficial Insects?
Beneficial insects are those that do good things in the vegetable garden; they have a job to do and they do it well. According to Sally Jean Cunningham and her book, Great Garden Companions, these jobs include preying on harmful insects, pollinating vegetable plant blooms, and building up the soil.
The praying mantis and ladybug are two examples of beneficial insects that prey on other harmful insects in the vegetable garden. In fact, ladybugs are available for purchase commercially for release into the garden, in hopes they will devour any hungry aphids in the vicinity.
Pollinators include flies, bees, wasps, flies, butterflies and moths. As these insects land on the male flowers in the vegetable garden, gathering nectar and pollen, they move pollen to the female blossoms, fertilizing them and allowing for fruit production.
Earthworms are a gardener’s friend, and as they move through the soil, feeding on organic matter they leave their castings behind, improving the fertility of the soil. They also aerate the soil as they move through it.
Attracting Beneficial Insects
It is fairly easy to lure beneficial insects such as bees, butterflies and ladybugs into the vegetable garden, even if the focus of the garden is on growing edible plants. When planning a vegetable plot, it is a simple task to incorporate some herbs or flowers that will help to attract beneficials to the vegetable patch.
Luring Ladybugs to the Vegetable Garden
For example, in general, ladybugs tend to be attracted to plants that exhibit an “umbrella” shape, such as dill or Queen Anne’s Lace. A clump of dill in the corner of the vegetable patch is attractive, smells fresh, and will encourage ladybugs to visit the garden, in turn keeping the aphid population in check. Aphids are commonly attracted to nasturtiums, so planting some of these easy-to-grow annuals could help provide a food source for ladybugs, too.
Bringing Bees and Butterflies into the Vegetable Patch
There are several plants that attract bees and butterflies, two very important pollinators, into the vegetable garden. These include anise-hyssop, a member of the mint family. Its leaves have a licorice scent, and its tall spikes of purple flowers are sure to draw the attention of pollen-seekers. Monarda, the common name of which is bee balm, is also a great attractor of pollinator bees and butterflies. Its tall mop-headed blooms in shades of hot pink and red will add a striking punch of colour to any vegetable garden, and keep bees and butterflies coming to the garden all summer long.
Maintaining a population of beneficial insects in the vegetable garden is sure to increase the odds of a successful harvest, helping to eliminate the presence of harmful insects, improve the soil and pollinate fruit-bearing plants.
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