Good Bugs for Your Garden

I've always heard you should try and keep bugs out of the garden. It is true that slugs and flea beetles are bad because they eat the leaves; however, there are numerous good bugs which help the garden and do not get enough recognition like they deserve. Here is a list of what bugs you want to keep in your garden.

Ladybugs are best known to feed on aphids(a small, plant eating insect). They can also eat chinch bugs, whiteflies, and mites, as well as many other soft-bodied insects and their eggs. Adult ladybugs may consume up to 5,000 aphids which can help save your plants from being eaten.

Parasitic wasps can kill intruding garden insects and help keep the garden organized.

Just like in The Bee Movie it is very important to have bees in the garden! They do not necessarily get rid of other bugs, but they do pollinate the flowers which we know from the movie, is needed for the plants to live.

Green lacewing larvae feed on aphids, whitefly, leafhoppers, mites, mealybugs, scale insects and some moths and caterpillars. They work very fast feeding on these bad bugs and their eggs

Centipedes are mean hunters and will feed on caterpillars, slugs and fly larvae, grubs, and pupae.

Spined Soldier Bug(stink bugs as I like to call them) prey on many types of beetles, webworms, armyworms and other garden pests.

Dragonflies are also beneficial to a garden because they feed on a large variety of insects. They feed on mosquitoes and other biting insects.

It is important to know which bug is good to have in a garden and why. If you have a certain insect problem like beetles, you might want to try and get the stink bug in your garden by going to the store and purchasing them. These good bugs listed above, are also attracted to certain plants, so considering growing these plants they like could be a good idea. Our bugs serve a purpose to our garden, and it is important to know which purpose they are serving!