Boo! It’s Halloween, and I’ve been walking into a lot of spider webs in the garden lately. This is one of the hazards of being tall: spiderwebs up the nose.
Many of us are afraid of spiders, and I must admit to being a little less than friendly to them myself. Yet I love them when they’re creeping and climbing around their native environment. Their webs are beautiful, and they’re a very beneficial animal to have in the garden.
Many so-called scary garden critters might seem odd to us, but I’m sure that we’d look really odd to them too. Most of these little creatures also play an extremely important role in your garden. They might look weird, but they’re very useful. Let’s look at a few of these spooky microbeasts:
Spiders are the stuff of scary nursery rhymes. Spiders are also important predators in your garden. This natural predator controller hangs around in your garden, creates little tunnels to collect other garden bugs, and roams around on your plants. Many of the animals that spiders eat are ones that we might consider to be pests.
Wasps scare us, particularly because they love those barbeques. Yes, a wasp’s nest may not be the in thing for your garden, but a wasp or two is nothing to worry about. In fact, wasps are predators of flies and caterpillars, so they also act as natural pest control.
Yikes! A bee! While bees might not be an animal you want to get stuck in your sleeve, they’re critically important pollinators. Bees collect nectar and move pollen from flower to flower. Without them, our ability to grow food would be compromised. Many native bees such as mason bees are gentle and not overly prone to stinging, either.
Beetles might seem like dark and scary log-dwelling creatures, but these little, many-legged critters are helpful predators and recyclers in the garden. Of course, the much-loved ladybug is also a beetle, and it’s renowned for its aphid-eating skills.
Have you embraced your garden bugs lately?
Image Credit: jaleainc