Good Garden Bugs ─ Everything You Need to Know About Beneficial Predatory Insects

Aphids, ants, grubs, and earwigs are not only creepy-crawlies but they can wreak havoc on your garden and plants--But fear not! You don't need dangerous chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides to enjoy a lively, healthy garden. The secret? More lady beetles, fewer aphids! Wildlife in your garden - especially insects - can be natural pesticide alternatives, they can pollenate plants, they can contribute important nutrients to the soil, and sometimes they're simply enthralling to look at. Good Garden Bugs will tell you how to attract the bugs, how to preserve their needed natural habitats, and how to work with them to grow and enjoy your garden. Yes, you can order a lot of ladybugs (for example) in the mail, but it's a more effective, long-term solution if you attract them with the right environment! Good Garden Bugs is an easy-to-follow reference to natural, non-harmful ways for your gardens to grow full and bountiful.

Dr. Mary Margaret Gardiner is an assistant professor of entomology and extension school instructor at Ohio State University. As such, she works not only with undergraduate and graduate students, but with hundreds of backyard gardeners, community gardeners, and small farmers to teach them about working with beneficial insects to improve their crops. Her specialty is beneficial insects, and she is the go-to expert on them, having been quoted on them in such non-academic publications Mother Earth News and the Columbus Dispatch. She is also a well-respected researcher and very connected in the entomology community. She is a member of the International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Animals and Plants, the Ecological Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, the International Association for Landscape Ecology, and the Society for Conservation Biology. She has served as associate editor of Environmental Entomology and as ad hoc editor of Biological Control, Great Lakes Entomologist, Ecological Applications, and Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. She contributed chapters to the textbook Integrated Pest Management (Cambridge University Press 2011), and she is the author or coauthor of many technical bulletins and reports aimed at farmers and gardeners.