Encourage Beneficial Organisms

The use of beneficial organisms in the home garden is hardly new. If you think of Adam and Eve as the original garden pests, look at the effectiveness of one snake. Actually, snakes are wonderful, free rodenticides. They patrol for ground-level mice, shrews, bugs, and slugs. In return they need an accessible water source, maybe a nice, flat rock on which to sun themselves, and not to be run over by a lawn mower.

Bats are another fine addition to any garden. Bats consume many times their own weight of flying insects over the course of the gardening season. Persuade them to roost near your garden by putting in a little bat condo. Commercially made bat houses are available, or construct one yourself.

Birds are valuable bug-eaters. They will reward your thoughtfulness with years of dedicated service. Provide them with a bird bath, some cover in the form of bushes or trees, a small house or two, and perhaps a free meal every now and then.

Toads are underappreciated assets in the garden; they guzzle bugs daily. Encourage their presence with a damp, shady spot for them to hide in during hot, dry weather. A board propped up over a puddle is toad heaven.

Predatory and parasitic insects prey on other bugs for free, and unless you garden in a vacuum, they usually come with the garden. Be careful not to annihilate them with broad-spectrum chemical pesticides.

Beneficial organisms, from barely visible mites to 6-inch-tall praying mantises, are available to work in your garden. You can purchase them, but your money would be better spent encouraging existing, native populations. The trouble with many store-bought bugs is they are disloyal, and will probably leave.

Plant flowering herbs, such as thymes, mints, rosemary, sage, and dill for beneficial adult insects to eat. Or entice them by interplanting your crops with daisies, petunias, cosmos, nasturtiums, marigolds, and sunflowers. Provide a water source. The lingering dew on plant leaves is often sufficient; the constant moisture provided by drip irrigation is ideal. Most important, don't spray pesticides. Welcome the beneficials that occur naturally in your garden.