10 ways to attract beneficial insects to your garden

1. Minimize your use of pesticides and other chemicals

This may go without saying when talking about increasing the biodiversity of your garden, but many pesticides and insecticides do not discriminate between beneficial insects and pest insects. Using these chemicals will reduce the activity in your garden and make it more difficult to create the balance that you want to strive for. The repeated use or misuse of pesticides and chemicals can also have other unpleasant side effects, reaching lethal levels in the environment and leading to the death of non-target animals like birds and hedgehogs. Reducing your pesticide and chemical use will also increase the health of your soil. There will be times when an outbreak occurs that simply cannot be controlled by natural means and it may be necessary for you to step in. When doing so, do so with caution and follow the instructions of the manufacturers carefully.

2. Healthy soil

Healthy soil means healthy plants and healthy plants mean a healthy garden. Keeping your soil healthy is one of the most important steps in keeping your garden flourishing. Healthy soil is moist, rich in organic matter and full of earthworms that aerate the soil and microbes that help to feed your plants. This in turn leads to plants that are robust, which makes them less susceptible to disease and to being overrun by pests like aphids and mealy bugs. Healthy soil will also attract a diversity of insects, including insects like lacewings, hoverflies, ground beetles and ladybugs. One way to keep your soil healthy is to not clear away all the dead leaves and other organic litter that will be present naturally in your plant beds. Clearing this away can leave the soil bare and prone to drying out, and susceptible to erosion when there is rain or wind. Leaving that little bit of natural organic matter will also help to feed the soil, worms and microbes and serve as a shelter and food for many insects and other little critters present in your garden.

3. Have your own compost heap

Another way to add to the health of your soil is to have your own compost heap, where you place your kitchen waste and unwanted garden refuse. Once the organic waste has finished turning into compost, you can use this natural, chemical-free fertilizer in your own garden. Your compost heap will also provide a haven for many insects and their larvae, such as ground beetles. Ground beetles are generally small and black and are rarely seen unless you disturb where they are hiding, usually under organic litter. These beetles are hunters that will feed on anything that they can catch, including larvae of other insects.

4. Plant indigenous plants

Plant indigenous plants for your area. These plants will already be well-adapted to the climate and to the local fauna in your garden. They will be attractive to beneficial insects and will generally be able to ward off many of the pest species that can otherwise be more harmful to cultivated and non-indigenous species of plants. Speak to your local nursery to find out which plants are indigenous and will thrive in your garden.

5. Plant flowers for their nectar

Planting flowers that are high in nectar and pollen will attract a variety of pollinators to your garden, like bees and butterflies. But they will also attract other insects like hoverflies and wasps. It is important to plant a range of different types of flowers, including small and large flowers. Small flowers are often excellent nectaring plants for smaller insects as they are more accessible to them. Carrot plants and plants from the aster family have small flowers that are very high in nectar and are very attractive to insects, especially small wasps. These wasps are often parasitic and will target pest species in your garden. They will lay their eggs in the bodies of aphids, mealy bugs and caterpillars, helping to keep their numbers down. Other attractive flowers that are high in nectar include foxglove, honeysuckle and lavender.

6. Plant a diversity of plants

Plant as many different plants as you can. Grassy plants, woody plants, herbaceous plants, annual and perennial plants, flowering plants and fruit bearing plants will all be attractive and provide natural resting places and nesting areas for many insects. Having a larger diversity of plants will also reduce the chances of a pest outbreak as the pests will only be adapted to feed on a few of the plants that are present in your garden at a time, rather than attacking a lot of the same plants at the same time, devastating them in the process.

7. Create a diversity of habitats

Creating a diversity of habitats in your garden will increase the attractiveness of your garden as it will provide water, food and shelter for a number of different insects. You can do this by having multiple stories in your garden with tall plants and short plants, shady areas with moist soil, sunny areas where the soil is drier and creating artificial habitats like a rockery or a pond (see next point).

8. Build a pond

Having a pond may be one of the most important additions to your garden. A pond will provide an important area in your garden where insects like dragonflies, damselflies, pond skaters, water boatman and water beetles will start to congregate and breed. Dragonflies are some of the greatest aerial predators of other insects and will keep many other insects in check in your garden. The pond will also provide an area where many insects, like bees and wasps, will congregate and drink.

9. Be more tolerant

In any healthy and balanced garden there will be lots of different species of insects, including pest species that are feeding off your plants. There will be some leaves that have evidence of a caterpillar feeding on it, and flower buds that have aphids present. In low numbers, these insects are not damaging your plants beyond what they can recover from, and these little pests provide food for all the other residents in your garden, including the birds. Be more tolerant of pests in low numbers and you will find the beneficial insects will be present and doing their thing as well.

10. Be more aware

One of the best things that you can do is to get to know your garden, and its residents. When you can recognize aphids, and the ladybug or wasp or hoverfly larvae that might be feeding on them, you will become aware of the balance that is already present in your garden. Observe which areas of your garden have the most activity and what different insects are present and discover what role they play. This can also give you an early warning system to see when something is wrong and to determine if it is time for you to step in.