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Some animals do you a favour when it comes to removing bugs and pests from your garden. Here’s a list of those beneficial animals and how to attract them. If you’re wondering how each one of them is helping you out in the garden take a look at this post on beneficial animals.

Birds

Photo by faeryboots.

Birds love the sound of gently moving water, which will attract them to your garden. They also need a birdbath but make sure it’s not deeper than 8 cm (3 inch). When winter comes it’s best to have some sort of heating underneath the birdbath, so that the birds have access to drinking water. Food is necessary too of course, and planting trees with fruits or berries is a good idea when you want to attract birds. In the mating season birds need shelter and nesting material.

Dragonflies

Photo by Krikit ♥.

A pond is great for attracting dragonflies, but don’t put fish in it because they will go after the eggs. Dragonflies prefers to have big flat rocks near the pond where they can soak up energy from the sun. They’re solar powered and will only fly when they reach a certain temperature. They need shelter but two thirds of the pond surface must be out in the sun.

Frogs

Photo by timitalia.

Frogs prefer quiet water and no fish, since the fish will feed on frog eggs. Frogs spend much of their time above water so you’ll need to build a pond with sloped edges making access to surrounding ground easier. When out of the water they like to hide in damp and cool places like half buried clay pots. In the winter frogs lie dormant at the bottom of their pond.

Rove Beetles

Photo by dhobern.

Rove beetles like decomposing organic material lying around: Leaves, decomposing fruits, bark, decaying trees etc.

Tiger Beetles

Photo by .Larry Page.

Tiger beetles are attracted by lights at night. They like to hide in high grass around 8 cm (3 inch), under logs or under mulch. Give them access to water by filling a plate with gravel and placing it on the ground. The rain will keep it fresh.

It’s annoying to have your vegetables eaten up by bugs. Luckily it’s possible to get help from other insects, because they’ll attack those harmful bugs and eat them or feed them to their young. Some plants naturally attract these beneficial insects and some even attract several helpful insects to your garden. In the table below you’ll find the beneficial insects in the left column and the names of the attracting  plants in the top row. Below the table you’ll see a picture of each plant. By planting these in your garden you’ll be able to create a big insect magnet and get help hunting down those hungry bugs:

Coreopsis:

Photo by kabils.

Cosmos:

Photo by Kanko*.

Dill:

Photo by Eran Finkle – ערן פינקל.

Fennel:

Photo by Anika Malone.

Goldenrod:

Photo by Benimoto.

Lemon balm:

Photo by color line.

Sweet alyssum:

Photo by hortulus.

Do you already have any of these beneficial insects in your garden? Where are they hanging out?