Garden Insects

Some varieties of garden insects you may come across in your herb garden include Japanese Beetles, Whiteflies, and Cabbage Loopers.

The good news is you probably won't find them very often in your herb garden. That's because the wonderful fragrances that attract us to herbs, have just the opposite effect on many garden pests.

No matter the plant, insects and other pests are often repelled by those plants with strong aromas, no matter how good they smell to us. It's because of this that herb gardens that have a good variety of plants can be almost pest-free.

Pests' dislike of some odors is so powerful that a lot of gardeners will plant some herbs as companion plants to their vegetables, flowers, and other herbs in their garden.

All this being said, pests can and will attack herbs. For instance, a garden filled with nothing but basil will be too irresistible to Japanese Beetles. Hungry Rose Chaffers can also be a problem. They can find as few as six or seven basil plants growing together and do considerable damage to them.

Similarly if you grow parsley in the same spot every year, you're giving Carrot Weevil populations a chance to build to dangerous population levels.

These steps are your best protection against harmful insects:

• - Have a good variety of herbs growing in your herb garden.
• - Every year grow your annual herbs in a different location.
• - Transplant your perennial herbs every four years to a different location.
• - Add organic matter by applying compost. This will encourage beneficial organisms.
• - Weed, feed, water, mulch, and clean up regularly so insects have no place to hide.

Again, these steps will not completely eliminate the insects in your garden. However, they should reduce the chances of them severely damaging your herbs.

The Beneficial Garden Insects

Most of the insects in your herb garden have no direct effect on your herb plants. There are actually only a few that are even considered pests.

A handful of garden insects considered to be very beneficial to your garden such as assassin bugs. These insects will feed on many of the other harmful insects in your garden. So before you squash that bug, make sure its not on your side.

If you're use to pulling out the herbs that have begun to flower because their leaves are past their prime, you may want to reconsider. Many of the beneficial insects require a source of pollen or nectar during their adult lives.

Some beneficial insects such as Lady Beetles are so large that they can feed on a variety of flowers in the garden. Others such as Tiny Parasitic Wasps must have tiny flowers. Luckily herb flowers will provide enough food for your beneficial insects.

Try to leave just a few of the following herb flowers in your herb garden all summer long: caraway, chervil, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, and yarrow.

Garden insects come in many shapes and sizes and can do a lot of damage to garden plants. However, you can take comfort in knowing that a few simple precautions can limit the damage done to your herb garden.