Beneficial Garden Predators are the Best Solution to garden pests!
They will save you Time & Money! 💰

These are some things YOU can do to invite Beneficial Garden Predators:

1) Avoid Broad Chemical Applications!
It's the season of pesticide & herbicide spraying. You see the trucks everywhere, spraying for pests & weeds.
Spraying everything, indiscriminately, harms beneficial creatures, as well as the intended targets. Broad chemical applications are expensive & are ineffective, since most insects have a short life span. It may end one generation, just to have another take its place. This results in a cycle of continued applications. 
Bonus: Baby Bird eat Bugs! By leaving bugs for the birds, you will be feeding future Birds! 🐣
TIP: Any use of chemicals should be taken very seriously! Apply as little as you can, as precisely as you can. Read the labels carefully, follow all the directions, & wear proper Personal Protection Equipment! (such as gloves, safety glasses, boots, & masks)!

2) Strongly Scented Companion Plants!
Companion plants can "confuse" pests by strong scents, such as the edible flower Nasturtiums, or herbs like basil, cilantro/ coriander, chives, parsley, or bulbs like garlic, onion. Many of these also attract beneficial insect predators like ladybugs, hoverflies, lacewings.
Bonus: Less pests, & more tasty things from the garden!
TIP: If you have aphids, plant Nasturtiums away from your precious plants, as it draws aphids to it! This is known as a "trap crop", keeping those pests away from valuable plants. 💚

3) Create a Habitat!
Consider the whole life cycle of your garden. If you have too much of a certain pest, what beneficial predator eats that pest & would bring it in balance? If you invite that predator, they will be more effective at eliminating that pest than any chemical application will be. They are always "on the job" & don't need to be "reapplied"! Dragonflies have a hunting success rate of 95%!
(For comparison, most big cats like cheetahs, tigers, & lions have a hunting success rate of 5-50%)
Bonus: Attracting more wildlife will make your garden more resilient by keeping everything in balance.
TIP: The Easiest ways to make a Habitat is to 1) provide a source of water, & 2) leave leaves, stems, twigs in a pile for shelter! 💚.

Invite those Beneficial Garden Predators into your Garden, & appreciate everything they do for us!

Enjoy! 💚 
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