By: Candice Keast
During the hot sweltering months of the growing season, you can mostly sit back, relax and enjoy your beautiful garden. However, there are still things you can do to keep yourself busy.
Firstly, check out the second video in our three-part Get Growing Toronto video series, which covers several frequently asked questions.
Continue reading to learn about the following:
By: Candice Keast
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| Adult Ladybug - Coccinellidae |
Throughout the growing season, you'll definitely encounter a variety of different insects in your garden, depending on what you're growing. You might think that most insects are pests and bad for your garden but on the contrary: there are a number of beneficial insects that help keep your garden happy and healthy, naturally. There are three different types of beneficial insects: predatory, pollinators, and parasitizers.
In this blog post, I'll highlight a few garden guardians.
Ladybugs
Perhaps one of the most recognizable beneficial insects is the ladybug or lady beetle. Not just a pretty face, these bugs can eat up to 5,000 insects throughout their life. Ladybugs will eat aphids, scales, spider mites, and thrips.
Attract ladybugs by growing dill, dandelion, calendula, chives, cilantro, marigold, and yarrow.
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| Ladybug Larva - Coccinellidae |
Have you seen this bug roaming your garden? Don't let its
troublemaking look and spikey body intimidate you. I recently learned that
these bugs are ladybug larvae - this is what they look like before
they turn into the pretty red beetles with black spots. They're even more
helpful than adult ladybugs because their appetite for aphids is even bigger!
Lacewings
Green lacewings are
beautiful insects with large lacy wings and are excellent natural predators. Their larvae consume aphids, caterpillars, cutworms, whitefly, spider
mites, thrips, and mealybugs.
Attract lacewings by
growing dill, dandelion, cilantro, and Queen Anne's lace.
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| Green Lacewing - Chrysopidae |
Soldier beetle
Solider bugs are
cousins of stink bugs and eat aphids, cucumber beetle larvae, caterpillars, and
grasshopper eggs.
Attract soldier bugs by growing goldenrod, hydrangea, marigold, milkweed, and even catnip!
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| Soldier beetle - Cantharidae |
Assassin bugs
Assassin bugs are beneficial to your garden as they eat aphids, beetles, caterpillars, flies and mosquitoes. If you see an assassin bug in your garden, let it be. They are known to bite if touched or disturbed. See link below for picture.
Hoverflies
Adult hoverflies are
often mistaken for bees because of their colouring, but you can distinguish
them by looking at their wings. Bees and wasps have four wings, while
hoverflies have two. They hover and dart about, looking for pollen and nectar.
Also known as Syrphid fly, the adults are considered pollinators. However, the
larvae are very effective predators as they eat aphids and mealybugs.
Attract hoverflies by
growing calendula, dill, and garlic chives.
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| Hoveryfly - Syrphidae |
Native Bees
Did you know that
Toronto is home to over 360 species of bees? Pollinators
are critical to the survival of most food crops and flowering plants. In fact,
it is said that 1 out of every 3 bites of food is because of pollinators.
Unfortunately, native bees are in decline because of several factors, including
habitat loss, invasive species, pesticides, climate change, and more.
Furthermore, native bees are the most specialized and efficient pollinators.
When native bees disappear, they disappear forever.
Attract native bees by planting native plants like Anise hyssop, wild geranium, nodding onion and New England asters. Check out our Wild About Bees page for more native plant ideas.
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| Toronto's Official Bee - Agapostemon virescens |
Braconid Wasps
Braconid wasps are small, non-aggressive parasitoids. They sting and lay eggs inside of their prey's body. Their prey of choice are tomato hornworms, but if there's none around, they'll lay eggs in other pests like cabbage worms, aphids, beetle larvae, leaf miners, etc.
Attract braconids by growing carrots, dill, lemon balm, and parsley.
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| Braconid Wasp - Braconidae |
Honourable Mentions
Spiders and centipedes often get a bad rap because of their looks, but these insects are incredible for your garden. Centipedes will eat soil-dwelling pests like worms, slugs, and fly pupae. Most spiders you see in the garden are harmless to humans. If you see a spider in your garden, leave them be – they'll be doing you a favour by eating pests in your garden – including mosquitos!
If you want a more in-depth look at the insects listed above, check out this page.
As always, feel free to ask questions in the comment section below. If you come across a beneficial insect in your garden, share with us on social media by tagging @LiveGreenTO and using the hashtag #GetGrowing.
Get Growing Toronto Newsletter
Did you know that Live Green Toronto has expanded the Get Growing program to include a monthly newsletter? Whether you're growing food for the first time or a seasoned gardener, there are always new things to learn and try. Our goal is to help you on your gardening journey with lots of tips and resources. Get Growing with us and sign up here!
By: Candice Keast
Are you excited to get your summer balcony ready?! Now is the ideal time to beautify your outdoor space by growing food -- and we've got all the info you need right here.
As a great intro (if we do say so ourselves), check out Live Green Toronto's 3-part Get Growing Toronto video series, which helps you along your container or balcony gardening journey. In the first video, we go through the process of turning a balcony that was largely unused into a food-producing space. If you don't have a balcony, not to worry. The video and the information in this post can be applied to any outdoor container garden location. You can grow food just about anywhere!
There are a few other things to keep in mind when you are getting your garden started. In this post, we will cover:
Why keep a gardening journal?
Keep a gardening journal to:
As spring approaches, gardeners are often faced with one big question: do we start our garden in May with seedlings purchased at our local garden centre OR do we get ahead of the game and grow from seed? Of course, you can do a combination of the two - choose whatever is right for you!
I'm on the indoor seeding train because it allows me to put on my gardening hat earlier in the year. I start indoor seeding in March and early April, then when the weather warms up, outdoor seed in late April and May. Growing from seed is inexpensive and fun but can be challenging. Are you up for a challenge?
Read more to learn about:
