It would be so much easier to garden with out all the insects and pests which attack plants and flower beds. However it seems that gardeners are on constant vigil and looking out for those tiny pests that can do so much in damage in a garden.
It is good to know however that there are many things that can be done to keep insects and pests down to minumum. The perpetual agitating of the dirt by earthworms helps in maintaining the soil. Many birds feed upon insects, such as the sparrows, redbreasted robin, chickadees, meadow larks and baltimore orioles. Frogs and toads are another animal that eats insects and keeps the population down.
It may be important for an avid gardener to attempt to create their garden so that is appealing to birds and toads. A well made birdhouse, grain scattered about and with plenty of water can be an invitation for birds to rest a while and stay in the garden.
To invite toads into the garden then it’s maybe important to provide a place for shade where a toad could rest during a long hot summer day. However, it is really at night that a toad is interested in eating and remember toads prefer live food. So how does a gardener arrange their garden so it maybe inviting for toads? It would be smart to create a hideaway, relaxing, dark and moist. A couple of stones of different sizes underneath the shade of a shrub with possibly a carpeting of moist leaves, would appeal to a toad.
There are two common categories of insects that can do damage in a garden. One variety eats and gnaws on the plant. This sort of insect has a mouth accommodated to accomplish this function. Insects such as grasshoppers and caterpillars are of this kind. The other type of insect sucks and draws the juices from a plant. In in some manner, this the worse than the former. Insects in this category would be plant lice and mosquitoes. This type of insect will secure themselves on a plant and suck the life right out of a plant.
There are ways to fight these insects and pests. The grasshoppers and caterpillars maybe destroyed by poison sprayed on the plants the insects then will ingest the poison. Bordeaux mixture is a poison that can be sprayed on plants for this very use.
In the instance of mosquitoes and lice the only thing that really can be used is insecticides. The idea is to spray the plant which then will fall on the insect and the poison will attack in that way.
These are just a couple of ideas that maybe helpful for a gardener in managing the insects and pests in their garden.
