Over at their Gardening and Yardening blog, Nancy Szerlag, the gardener, and Jeff Ball, the yardener, make the point that the much maligned creepy crawlies of the garden, the ants, spiders, and ground beetles, are our best allies against pests:
...we are talking about six to a dozen species of each. There are big ants, small ants, brown ants, and black ants. There are jumping spiders, stalking spiders, and web spinning spiders. Among the ground beetles you might find Assassin Bugs, Big Eyed Bugs, Rove Beetles, Soldier Beetles, and even Minute Pirate Bugs, all fearsome names for a bunch of good guys.
These beneficial insects represent a veritable army of protection for landscape plants, yet they get no respect. They get no credit. They get no attention, except in books talking about killing these critters. They really need to hire a PR firm to get their story out.
I agree wholeheartedly, and Jeff and Nancy do a great PR job for them. For the full article, see
beneficial insects.
Over at their Gardening and Yardening blog, Nancy Szerlag, the gardener, and Jeff Ball, the yardener, make the point that the much maligned creepy crawlies of the garden, the ants, spiders, and ground beetles, are our best allies against pests:
Heh, your post made something tickle my leg - possibly my imagination, but a small spider and two ladybugs did follow my two HOLbenches when I took them in from the balcony. I'm not sure where they are now, but I hope I can return them before they die.
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening!
Wow, 10 acres in Zone 5, must be nice. I have a little 1/5th acre plot in Zone 3. It's a start I guess ;)
ReplyDeleteHey, Jennifer: Thanks for commenting. It's nice, but you gotta garden where you're planted.
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening this spring!
Cheers, Yvonne