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beneficial insects

How a Backyard Garden Can Help Save Our Important Bees

March 28, 2018 by Wendy Pettit

Author: Maria Cannon (HobbyJr.org)

Bee on pink flower

Photo by: Agzam on Pixabay CCO

Since 2010, the United States has suffered a loss of 40 percent of local honeybees. Native bee species are dying off too, with many of them categorized as either endangered or significantly declining. Our food and economy, as well as the entire ecosystem, depend on bees to survive. Our survival depends on their survival. By creating a bee-friendly garden, you can do your part to help save our important bees.

Why Bees Are So Important

According to Greenpeace, “Since the late 1990s, beekeepers around the world have observed the mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees and reported unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies.” Bees are famous for making honey, but their most important role is the pollination of crops. A third of the food that we eat depends on pollinating insects, including zucchini, apricots, almonds, coriander, canola oil, and more.

Photo by: MyriamsFotos on Pixabay CCO

A world without pollinators would not only be devastating for food production, but it would also have a huge economic impact. The worldwide economic value of bees’ pollination work has been estimated at roughly $306.4 billion annually.  Obviously, they are important bees. In the United States, pollinators contribute more than $24 billion dollars to the economy, of which honeybees contribute more than $15 billion and native pollinators contribute $9 billion.

However, it’s not just the economy and our food that we should focus on. All pollinating insects play an essential role in ecosystems. Native bees may not pollinate as much of our crops, but they do pollinate wild plants, which are important to the larger ecosystem, creating food and habitats for other animals and insects. In essence, all bee populations are declining, and it’s important to help save them all.

Making Your Garden Bee-Friendly

Bees need nectar and pollen as food sources, so opt for flowers that provide both, such as goldenrod, asters, and sunflowers. You can also plant flowering vegetables and fruits. Bees need to eat until they retreat for the winter, so choose plants that bloom through multiple seasons or a variety of plants that will bloom at different times throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Aim to have at least ten bee plants in a grouping instead of spreading them out across the garden. Because bees also need water, you should add a pond, fountain, or other fresh water source.

While honeybees live in hives, native bees live in the ground. Provide a space in your garden for native bees to make their home by leaving an un-mulched space in your garden. A pile of undisturbed sand or wood will work too. Do not use pesticides and herbicides. Instead, introduce good bugs to provide natural protection against pests and weed your garden by hand.

If you live in an apartment or have limited space, you can easily grow pollinator plants in containers. Some pollinator plants that do well in containers include stinging nettles, asters, bee balm, purple coneflowers, and yarrow. You can incorporate more than one plant into a container to save space. Allow a tall plant, a rounded/full plant, and a trailing plant to share one container.  All sizes of flowering plants help our important bees.  Read our post on 8-tips for planting spring flower pots.

Photo by: Castlegaurd on Pixabay CCO

Starting Your Garden

When starting your garden, take the time to plan ahead. First, determine what you want to grow in your garden. There are many plants that attract pollinators, so choose the ones you like the best. As far as size, it’s best to start small and work your way toward a larger garden. When choosing the location of your garden, consider the position of the sun in your yard throughout the day and the quality of the soil.

Gardening doesn’t just help the bees. When you grow a garden, you can reap many of the health benefits it provides, including its calming effect. Gardening’s ability to calm the mind stems from it allowing you to center yourself, connect with nature, and take pride in creating something. It’s also a great form of exercise and has been proven to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and diabetes.

The rapid loss of bee populations is frightening. Not only will our food supply and economy take a big hit, but also the Earth’s entire ecosystem could be devastated. By planting a garden that’s full of pollinator plants that bloom in different seasons, you’re taking a big step in helping revamp the bee populations. Even if you simply provide a home for bees to nest, you can help do your part in saving the bees.

Filed Under: Gardening, Insects, Utah Gardening Tagged With: attracting bees, backyard garden, bee-friendly garden, bees, beneficial insects, gardens and bees, honey bee, Important bees, pollinating insects, pollination, save bees

Beneficial Insects You Want in Your Garden

September 15, 2016 by Vanessa Myers

10 beneficial insects you want in your garden! If you spot these in your yard, you're in good shape!

Welcome Gardening Friends! Thanks for stopping by.

Do you ever see insects in your garden and wonder which ones are friendly and which ones aren’t?  Which ones are helping and which ones are harming?  Then keep reading, I’ve put together 10 Beneficial Insects You Want in Your Garden!

Ladybugs are definitely beneficial for your garden

Image by snowpeak under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

10 Beneficial Insects You Want in Your Garden

Bees will help pollinate many of your flowers

Image by zoxcleb under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

1. Bees

Bees are pollinating powerhouses and you want to see as many of them in your garden as you can get.  The more pollinators you have in your garden, the more fruit your plants will produce.

Braconid wasps lay their eggs in caterpillars

Adult Image by berniedup under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Pupae Image by Bev Wagar under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

2. Braconid Wasps

If you have ever found a tomato hornworm on your plants, you have seen the havoc that they can wreak. It won’t take them long to munch away all of the leaves on your tomato plants and you should squish it as soon as possible. However, if you ever find one that looks like the picture above, leave it alone. Braconid wasps are predatory and these beneficial insects lay their eggs in pests like the tomato hornworm. The larva feed on the caterpillar’s body, then emerge and form cocoons. This ultimately ends in the demise of the hornworm and more wasps to hone in on your other pests.

Some Pests Targeted by Various Braconid Wasps:

  • Aphids
  • Beetles
  • Caterpillars
  • Squash Bugs
  • Stink Bugs
Butterflies and moths are good pollinators for your garden plants

Image by Michael Khor under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

3. Butterflies and Moths

Butterflies and moths are not just dainty beauties that like to flit around your garden.  They serve as pollinators for many different flower species, enabling them to produce fruit.  They can potentially be harmful while in the larval stage as caterpillars since they eat away at leaves.  Many times, though, it’s not enough to ultimately harm the plant and you can allow them to complete their metamorphosis.

Damsel bugs are one type of beneficial insect

Image by Bennyboymothman under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

4. Damsel Bugs

Don’t confuse damsel bugs with damselflies, which are similar to their relatives, the dragonflies. Damsel bugs are true insects that love to go after many of the pests that snack on your vegetable garden plants.

Pests Targeted by Damsel Bugs Include: 

  • aphids
  • small caterpillars
  • moth eggs
Dragonflies love pests like mosquitoes

Image by Join the Dots under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

5. Dragonflies

Dragonflies can consume their bodyweight in bugs every 30 minutes, so they’re a great help in keeping the pests at bay!

Hover flies will eat aphids, scales and thrips

Image by Smabs Sputzer under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

6. Hover Flies

Hover flies, also known as syrphid flies, flower flies and drone flies, are great for controlling aphids, thrips, scale insects and caterpillars.  They are almost as effective as lady bugs in controlling aphids!

Lacewings will eat a large variety of harmful insects

Image by Mick Sway under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License

7. Lacewings

Lacewings are a helpful addition to the garden because the larvae are voracious predators of many pests including: aphids, spider mites (especially red mites), thrips, whitefly, leafhoppers, some beetle larvae, eggs of pest moths, and mealybugs.

Both ladybug larva and adults are beneficial insects

Image by norio_nomura under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

8. Lady Beetles

Lady Beetles, more commonly known as Lady Bugs, are a popular addition to many gardens.  They are sold in local nurseries because they’re so effective at controlling aphids and other pests like small caterpillars, thrips and other soft-bodied insects.

One insect that is beneficial in your garden is the minute pirate bug

Image by gbohne under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

9. Minute Pirate Bugs

Minute Pirate Bugs are tiny bugs (less than ⅕ of an inch long!) that are helpful in ridding your garden of pests including: aphids, spider mites, and thrips.  They are very predatory, and can consume up to 20 thrips larvae every day!

Praying mantises are so named because of how their legs are folded

Image by siamesepuppy under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License

10. Praying Mantises

Praying Mantises are helpful hunters because they prey on flies, crickets, beetles & moths.  These are great bugs to see in the garden!  But you should note that they are indiscriminate hunters…they eat pesky insects as well as beneficial ones, so just prey that they eat the pests!  😅

Honorary Mention: Spiders

Spiders are not included on this list because they are not actually insects.  Like other arachnids, they have eight legs, while insects have six. Many people shudder just at the thought of them. However, they truly are one of the most beneficial creatures to have around your garden since they take care of a lot of pests. If you can stifle the urge to squash any that are nonpoisonous, your garden will thank you!

What are your favorite beneficial insects?  Let us know in the comments below!

Filed Under: Gardening, Tips & How To's Tagged With: beneficial bugs, beneficial insects, bugs, garden, Gardening, insects, pests, Utah gardening

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