Make friends with the "Good Bugs" in your garden!

The “good bugs” of the garden, are called Beneficial Insects. Beneficial Insects are those that feed on garden pests like aphids (suck the sap out of plants, weakening the plant and causing the spread of viruses) and slugs (damage leaved crops and vulnerable seedlings). Beneficial Insects are also those that help with the pollination of garden crops.

Some of the Good Bugs That Should be Welcome In Your Garden:

• Parasitoid wasps – feed on Aphids, Caterpillars and Grubs
• Lacewing larvae – feed on Aphids
• Ladybug larvae – feed on Aphids
• Ground beetles – feed on ground-dwelling pests
• Hover flies, and Robber flies – feed on many insects, including Leafhoppers and Caterpillars
• Nematodes – kill many garden insects including, including Grubs and Japanese Beetles.
• Bumble and Honey Bee – helps with pollination
• Dragon Fly -eat Mosquitoes, Aphids and other pest bugs
• Spiders – the most important predators on insects, killing more than all other predators combined

To attract Good Bugs to your garden, you will need to supply them with reliable food sources and shelter.
Insects have different feeding requirements during the various stages of their development, so a diversity of plants is essential to attracting them. Although beneficial insects do feast on pest insects, there may be certain points in their life cycles when many beneficial insects need to sip flower nectar or pollen to survive. To attract these insects to your garden, you will need to provide host plants and plants for shelter.
When you are planning your garden, choose a variety of plants that will bloom throughout the year to attract the Good Bugs!

Here are some things you can do to support your Good Bug population:

• Plant nectar-producing flowers to increase the food supply. Plants in the cabbage, carrot and sunflower family are especially attractive to the Good Bugs
  

  Provide Native flowers for these great Pollinators to feed on.

• Plant tiny flowers for tiny wasps, like Coriander, Queen Anne’s Lace, fennel, angelica, dill, clovers, yarrow, and rue
• Plant composite flowers (black eyed susan, daisy and chamomile) and mints (spearmint, peppermint, or catnip) to attract predatory wasps, hover flies, and robber flies
• Plant low growing plants as cover for ground beetles (thyme, rosemary, or mint)
  
  

  Larvae and adults feed on soft-bodied insects such as aphids, mealybugs, scale insects and spider mites as well as insect eggs.

• Control ants which may hinder the Good Bug’s ability to control aphids
• Do NOT use broad-spectrum, contact insecticides. These will only provide temporary control and will kill more natural predators( Good Bugs) than pests (Bad Bugs). In the long run, this will actually benefit the growth of the pest (Bad Bugs) populations.
• Cover bare dirt in your garden with dead leaves or grass clippings mulch thick enough to shade the soil surface. This will provide shelter for spiders, which are the number one predator on insects.
  
  

  Spiders feed on a broad variety of pest insects year-round.

• Bring in the Birds! – Birds are also very helpful with controlling Bad Bugs. Any trees, shrubs or plants with berries will attract birds. And, no garden is complete without a birdhouse!

What about the Slugs?

Slugs are one of the most damaging pests known to the garden. A family of slugs can devastate a vegetable crop in a matter of days. Slugs will eat any kind of vegetation but prefer tender leaves. Slugs will also eat vegetables and fruits, and cause very unsightly damage to the crops.
Attracting slug predators to your garden can help to control or avoid a slug population. Toads, snakes, ducks, chickens and raccoons are some of the most common predators of slugs.

As you continue to learn to work with the Good Bugs and the inner working of your garden you will see the benefits and all of the “give and take” at work at your feet.

Food Buzz Words can lead to misguided choices and confusion

“Food is power. Are you in control of yours?” – John Jeavons

Today’s food market, heavily laden with politics and big business, has developed a long list of confusing and obscure buzz words.

These words are the coinage of food debates and controversy. Words like “organic“, “healthy“, “genetically modified” and “heirloom” are tossed around like candy. Many of us think we know what they mean or, at least, we think we know what they DON’T mean and, most of us are wrong!

Learning the Food Buzz Words can help you make more informed choices and give you the power of knowing you no longer have a fog over your eyes every time you put something in your mouth!

“Our choices at all levels—individual, community, corporate and government—affect nature. And they affect us.”- David Suzuki

• Organic vs Conventional:

  When one looks at the time-line of food production the modern definition of the phrases Organic and Conventional is a bit confusing. In any other context, “conventional” would mean the way something has traditionally been done. The established practice or accepted standards. Not the case with food!

  For  most of human history, agriculture can really be described as organic. It has only been in very, very recent history, the 20th century,  that a large supply of new synthetic chemicals were introduced to the food supply. This modern style of production is referred to as “conventional,” even though “organic” production has been the convention for a much greater period of time.

  In organic food production, the use of conventional non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides is greatly restricted and only used as a last resort. However, contrary to popular belief, certain non-organic fertilizers are still used.

  So, to clarify this confusion, the old and traditional way of growing food without chemicals is termed ORGANIC while growing foods with the newest technologies and chemicals is called CONVENTIONAL.

• GMO:

  Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are any plant, animal or microorganism which have been genetically altered using molecular genetics techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods that have had their DNA changed through genetic engineering.

  Unlike conventional genetic modification (in this case “conventional” means the traditional way) that is carried out through time-tested conventional breeding of plants and animals. Combining genes from different organisms is known as recombinant DNA technology, and the resulting organism is said to be “genetically modified,” “genetically engineered,” or “transgenic.”

  GM products include medicines and vaccines, foods and food ingredients, feeds, and fibers. For example, the gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas has been inserted into a strawberry, allowing the fruit to be frost-tolerant.
  
  In America, there is no law dictating GM food products be labeled or disclosed in packaging.

• Hybrid:

  Plants that have been cross breed with other compatible types of plants in an effort to enhance a plant’s growth, fruiting and hardiness are called hybrids. Many of our modern plants are the results of these crosses.

  Hybrid plants are different from GM plants in that they are NOT the result of genetic alterations using molecular genetics but, rather, the result of cross-pollinating plants that are compatible.

  Hybrid seeds do not always reproduce true to type. This means that second generation plants may produce different results. If you are buying hybrid seeds, look for seeds which are labeled as reproducing “true to type”.

• Heirloom/ Heritage:

  Heirloom plant seeds have been saved and passed down through generations by gardeners looking to preserve their genetic diversity and the unique qualities of the plants they produce. To be capable of being saved, Heirloom plants are Open Pollinated.

• Open Pollinated:

  Open Pollinated (OP) plants are plant varieties that are capable of reproducing themselves. OP plants will produce seeds that, when replanted, will produce seedlings that are identical to their parent plant. Not all plants do this.

• Untreated Seeds:

  Untreated Seeds have been produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides or genetic modification.

• Biodynamic Seeds:

  Biodynamic Seeds are from farms or gardens which use Biodynamic practices of managing land for ecological balance. The organic growing methods and planting cycles are integrated with the local environment where possible.

• Monsanto:

  Monsanto is the world’s largest conventional seed company and the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seeds, selling 90% of the world’s GE seeds. Monsanto’s products have been the target of much world debate related to the future of agriculture and food production.

  

  Through Genetic Engineering technology, Monsanto married Roundup and Corn

For a list of genetically engineered crops visit: safe-food.org

For further information on Monsanto and the effects on the farming industry visit: OrganicConsumers.org or Wikipedia

To purchase Organic, Heirloom, untreated, NON GMO seeds visit: eGardenSeed.com

“Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.”  – John McConnell

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”- Mahatma Gandhi