Many gardens and gardeners alike are defeated when it comes to bugs wreaking havoc on carefully tended plants. An aphid colony moves in and takes over, cabbage moths destroy a crop, potato bugs damage our efforts, or ticks move in putting everyone in danger. In order to repel these unwanted insects many gardeners turn to pesticides. While effective, pesticides damage the natural ecosystem that should be alive and thriving in our gardens, can impact the nutrients of our vegetables, and damage the soils that where likely carefully cultivated.

Where is the balance between living with bugs damaging our crops and using pesticides to eliminate those bugs?

In comes companion planting.

Companion planting is the art of pairing plants together that can provide what the other needs. This may be balancing soil pH levels, providing shade, attracting pollinators, and yes, even repelling unwanted insects. Many times, the way in which companion planting helps to repel pest insects is by attracting beneficial insects that feed on those pest insects.

For example:

Ladybug larvae feed on aphids.

Ground beetles manage other ground dwelling pests.

Mantids eat cucumber beetles and squash bugs as well as other flying pests.

When looking at companion planting as a way to attract beneficial insects you need to take into consideration which plants that bugs need throughout its entire lifecycle. These insects will have different feeding requirements throughout their lifecycle and at times may feed only on nectar and pollen. In order to entice them not to leave your garden in order to keep the next generations hard at work repelling your pest insects, you need to be sure to provide the right plants to keep them fed, housed, and happy their whole lives. Not only does this improve the diversity of your garden, it also builds that strong ecosystem that we talked about previously.

When using companion planting to attract beneficial insects, think about levels and height in the garden. Low growing plants to cover ground, shade producing plants at a mid-level height, flowering plants for those that need pollen or nectar, and overall food sources that each insect requires. Creating a garden that has levels ensures that your beneficial insects are safe and can continue to watch over your garden by keeping those pest insects at bay.

In addition to using companion planting to attract beneficial insects you can use this method to prevent pest insects from enjoying your garden by simply pairing together plants that the bug loves and hates. For instance, aphids enjoy many crops such as lettuce, cucumber, squash, beans, and more, but they hate chives and coriander. A barrier of these herbs can do the trick in preventing aphids from reaching the vegetables that are at risk. Another example is flea beetles. Like aphids, these pests enjoy many crop varieties including eggplant, peppers, broccoli, and turnips. Conversely, they dislike herbs in the mint family.

At this point you may be noticing a trend; herbs tend to ward off pest insects. Their fragrance and foliage make herbs great companions to any garden as well as provide an ornamental appeal to the garden. Basil and rosemary are great for preventing mosquitos, potato bugs dislike horseradish, ants do not want tansy, flies avoid basil and rue. Building a perimeter herb garden is a great way to prevent many of those pest insects from moving into your garden. Not only does this prevent the crops from being damaged, herb gardens also add variety to your garden and can act as some of those levels that we discussed above for housing beneficial insects.

Thyme, rosemary, and mint all happen to deter many of the pest insects that invade gardens and at the same time are great for low-growing ground cover to house beneficial beetles. Rue, dill, and coriander can be added as mid-level plants where beneficial insects can be off the ground but still receive shade from taller vegetable plants all while also repelling pest insects and providing flowers for those beneficial insects that needs flowers throughout their lifecycles.

Overall, companion planting is a great way to avoid the use of pesticides while still eliminating pest insects from taking over and damaging your garden. At Wings of Change we believe in healthy ecosystems, we believe in the beneficial nature of many insects, and we believe in doing our part to impact our world in a positive way. By taking some time to learn which insects are damaging your garden and providing the right plants to host their natural predators or using fragrant herbs to repel the unwanted insect rather than using pesticides you, too, can do your part to do as little harm as possible to your garden and our planet.

If you are experiencing a specific problem with insects in your garden, let us know! We will do our best to help you eradicate the pests without pesticides.