Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition
A Natural Approach to Pest Control
- 208 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition
A Natural Approach to Pest Control
About This Book
This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser's award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden.
With this indispensable gardening referenceânow updated with new research, insights, and voicesâlearn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides.
After a fascinating introduction to the predator and prey cycle and its importance to both wild ecosystems and home gardens, you'll meet dozens of pest-munching beneficial insects (the predators) that feast on garden pests (their prey). From ladybugs and lacewings to parasitic wasps and syrphid flies, these good guys of the bug world keep the natural system of checks and balances in prime working order. They help limit pest damage and also serve a valuable role in the garden's food web. But, they won't call your garden home if you don't have the resources they need to survive.
With a hearty population of beneficial insects present in your garden, you'll say goodbye to common garden pests like aphids, cabbage worms, bean beetles, leafhoppers, and hornworms, without reaching for a spray can. To encourage these good guys to stick around and do their important work, you'll learn how to create a welcoming habitat and fill your garden with the best plants to support them.
Inside you'll find:
- Bug profiles introducing dozens of beneficial insects and the down-and-dirty details on howthey catch and eat their prey
- Plant profiles featuring the best plants for supporting beneficials
- Interviews with entomologists who focus their life's work on understanding the value of insects, including Doug Tallamy, Paula Shrewsbury, Leslie Allee, Dan Herms, and others
- An inspiring look at how plants and insects intersect in the most incredible ways
- Why gardening for bugs is just as important to the greater world as it is to your garden
- Tips for creating insectary plantings and borders to support a broad range of beneficials
The acclaimed first edition of Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden ushered in a new way to garden; one that appreciates and understands of the power of returning a natural balance to the garden. This revised and updated edition continues to herald and expands on that same important message.
Frequently asked questions
Information
plant profiles
the best plants for beneficials
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- Introduction: How a Horticulturist Came to Bugs
- All About Beneficials: Who They Are, How They Work, and What They Eat
- Beneficial Bug Profiles: Meet the Predators and the Parasitoids
- Gardening for Bugs: Where Plants and Insects Intersect
- Plant Profiles: The Best Plants for Beneficials
- Your Beneficial Border: A Guide to Designing for the Bugs
- Companion Planting: Battling Pests with Plant Partnerships
- Putting It All Together: Who the Beneficials Eat and What to Plant
- The Commercial Stuff: Purchased Beneficials, Good Bug Lures, Supplemental Foods, and Seed Blends
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Resources
- Index
- Copyright