Beneficial Insects for a Vegetable Garden

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by Renae Chiovaro on June 24, 2014

Garden spider

Insects are a vital part to a vegetable garden. Yes, there are destructive insects that destroy the plants. However there are also beneficial insects that prey on the destructive insects and help with pollination. This is a list of beneficial insects that should be encouraged to make their home your garden.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs and their larvae feed on soft bodied insects like aphids. I am always happy to see the lady beetles in my garden!

Ground Beetles

Black beetle

There are a plethora of ground beetles that prey upon the Colorado Potato Beetle Larvae, snails, slugs and other small bugs. The ground beetles are often hiding under rocks and sticks. The beneficial beetles are usually brown or black with a harder looking shell.

Garden Spiders

Every summer we have a healthy crop of yellow and black garden spiders in our garden. At first they creeped me out because they get large and are colorful. They are completely harmless to humans and are good for insect control.

Parasitic Wasps

Some wasps lay they eggs inside worms and caterpillars. Last year I saw a green tomato worm with eggs along it’s back. These little white cocoons where actually from the parasitic wasp. When the young wasps hatch they eat their host. Kind of gross but a good way to control destructive caterpillars.

Green Lacewings

These flying insects prey on aphids.

Preying Mantis

The preying mantis eats a wide range of insects from aphids to beetles to flies. They are great at controlling pest bugs however, if there are not enough pests, they may eat beneficial insects too.

If you use an insecticide in your garden, remember that you might be killing off beneficial insects too. Consider adding more beneficial insects instead of pesticides. Also, remember to include these flowers in your vegetable garden to deter pests and draw beneficial insects in.

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Renae Chiovaro

Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.

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Comments

  1. Trevor the Exterminator says:
    October 13, 2014 at 8:54 am

    Great article, Renae! It’s true – not all pests should be killed, because some of them can actually help you in the battle against other insects. Spiders are favourite helpers :)

  2. McKenzie says:
    March 21, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    The first time I saw a garden spider I was spooked too, but now I think they are beautiful! Thanks for sharing this list of the good bugs!