Some of the biggest surprises that often appear in the family garden during summer are the many varieties of insects, spiders and other creatures that often pop up. Some of them can be downright frightful, while others can be colorful and beautiful.
Learning to identify some common garden insects, both good ones and bad ones, is something the whole family can do.
There are good insects, and there are bad. Good insects are beneficial in that they often eat insect pests. Often, they feed on damaging insects that can harm your crops. Examples of beneficial insects include daddy longlegs, spiders, some beetles, dragonflies and damselflies, wasps, centipedes, lacewings and ladybugs.
Some insects such as earwigs are both beneficial and harmful. Earwigs are interesting in that they will eat and control aphids and other pests. However, they also will feed on blossoms and foliage when given the opportunity.
Each of these insects play an important role in keeping insect pests under control.
It is important for children to learn to recognize this early on to prevent bad habits from following them into adulthood. Think of how many grown adults you know today who are under the false impression that spiders, centipedes, daddy longlegs, wasps and other creatures are harmful in the garden.
Planting the seed early and letting your children explore the world of insects in the garden will form a lifelong respect for those creatures that, despite their appearance, are good to grow with in the garden.
One way to do this is to buy an insect guide at a local bookstore or research beneficial garden insects online.
A rainy-day project is to have children make their own flash cards of garden insects using photos from online websites. Then, when the weather is nice, take them outside and explore the garden to see what insects you can find together.
When you come across an insect that you aren’t sure of, snap a picture with your cellphone or have them draw a picture that they can then compare to online resources or books to identify the bug.
Or email the photo to Rob Zimmer at firstname.lastname@example.org and I’ll let you know what you’ve discovered.