Don’t let garden pests bug you! With the onset of warmer weather, gardeners are starting to notice the arrival of more and more bugs to their vegetable gardens. Don’t fret! In reality, 95% of bugs aren’t actually pests – in fact, attracting beneficial insects to your garden can help regulate or even eliminate populations of insect pests that feed on and destroy our precious veggies.
In order to welcome these beneficial insects into your garden, make sure that plants are blooming throughout the year – this means choosing plants that bloom in each of the seasons – so that the good-guy insects can have a constant source of nectar and pollen. You should also provide an accessible source of water as well as shelter (could be as simple as leaf litter or planting groundcovers).
Planting certain plants will also attract specific beneficial insects. Check out this list of beneficial bugs and what they are respectively attracted to: