Much fuss is made over how to attract bees to your garden. This is a very good goal but you want to also
include other insects that can be huge allies…one lady bug will eat 50 aphids a
day! Many garden centers sell them as
organic pest control. If you are lucky
enough to find some, grab two or three tubs.
Set them free at dusk…they will
settle in for the night and wake up ravenous in their new home…your soon to be
aphid-free garden.
I’ve heard that some
people will mist them with Coke to temporarily glue their wings shut and ground
them. To me this seems like a very hostile start to a budding, mutually
beneficial relationship. Not to mention and
extremely rude way to treat a rock star affectionately known as the “Good Luck
Bug” in Russia, Turkey and Italy.
Another stellar garden overachiever is
the praying mantis. I admit that for
many years I had hidden prejudice against the mantis for two reasons…first because they were grouped into same
order as cockroaches… the other is that creepy, sexual cannibalism thing hanging
over their head. That all changed the
day I saw one stalk and annihilate a scorpion in an epic miniature Godzilla vs.
Rodan battle.
Praying mantises can spot
prey from 65 feet away and they will happily devour grasshoppers, cabbage
moths, flies and the occasional slug.
Unfortunately, they are not very discerning hunters and will also eat our
friends the butterflies, frogs and lizards... and spiders. I know spiders tow the good bug, bad bug line
pretty close. Personally, I don’t have a
problem with them other than one or two bites over a lifetime. That weighed against a multitude of morning
web-covered-in-dew photo ops is something I can live with. Plus they do eat flies and anything that eats
flies should always be encouraged to stay around.
I do make an exception for black widows…their
ankle high webs are nasty, raggedy, sticky sheet metal mesh… so their esthetic
contribution does not outweigh the risk.
From "Garden Table" by Mango Dragonfly
