Attracting beneficial insects

RHYSDAD

Starting our home veg plot this year and want to grow flowers to attract bees, hoverflies and other beneficial insects. I'm going to grow Limanthes douglasii and Convolvulus tricolor to attract hoverflies. Lavender to attract the bees.


Those are the one's i know about. What else can i grow to attract these insects to our veg plot?

The_Wall

We have foxgloves in our garden, which attract the bees. Downside is they self propagate too readily and you need to thin them out otherwise they take over.

Not tried it myself, but apparently stinging nettles attract greenfly :eek: Why is that good? Well this is supposed to encourage beneficial things like ladybirds. And stinging nettles are a good thing to add to a compost heap.

To stop the stinging nettles from spreading put them in a container, like you do with mint.

conradmum

The best bee attractant I've ever known is hyssop. We have a patch in our garden and when it flowers it's heaving with bees of different kinds, even more so than the lavender. It needs the same growing conditions as lavender (i.e. sunny, and light and slightly dry soil).

Other than that the best advice is not to spray but let systems of predators and prey develop normally.

RHYSDAD

conradmum wrote: »

The best bee attractant I've ever known is hyssop. We have a patch in our garden and when it flowers it's heaving with bees of different kinds, even more so than the lavender. It needs the same growing conditions as lavender (i.e. sunny, and light and slightly dry soil).

Other than that the best advice is not to spray but let systems of predators and prey develop normally.

My thoughts exactly.

Better for everything all round and cheaper!

Farway

Coriander when it flowers is a magnet for hoverflies, large flat flowers

And of course you get the herb as well, does run to seed a bit, but then that is where the flowers come in

Chives when they flower, and bolting onions when they flower

ixwood

The 2 biggest things you can do are don't use any poison sprays and leave things messy over winter. All the bugs have got to overwinter somewhere.

Most herbs and fruits are good for nectar lovers.

Bell flowers for Bumble Bees, foxgloves, borage, lovage etc. Bees prefer lilacs, blues and purples and yellow flowers for hover flies.

All members of the pea family are especially good, as they're the nitrogen fixers that can make fertiliser and therefore they put more protein into their pollen, which makes healthier bees. Red clover is good.

Buddlia and Sedums will attract butterflies and moths. If you can attract lots of bees and butterflies, pretty much all other wildlife will be doing okay too, as they'll like the plants as well.

You could have a little meadow strip. Great for wildlife and pretty too.

Small birds are also very useful in controlling pests too. Blue tits will strip aphids and caterpillars all day long. See if you can fit a few small nest boxes anywhere.

Do you have a pond? frogs and toads finish off the natural pest eating army. Toads are the biggest predator of vine weevils.

You can make homes for solitary and bumble bees and lacewings easily. And hedgehogs and toads. You could even make a bug hotel. The bug ones are made out of pallets stacked up and filled with sticks and hollow tubes etc. You can do the same on a smaller scale. It's good for recycling too.