BEES, BUGS, BIRDS AND BENEFICIALS

A guide to companion plants and beneficial creatures!

Who / what are we fighting?

• Four foot beasties

• Bugs

• Caterpillars

• Nematodes

• Weather related problems

• Fungi

• Moulds

• Mildews

4 feet.... and bandit ways

Bugs and damage

Colorado potato beetle, flea beetle , cucumber/ squash beetle

Caterpillars and slugs

• Snails without houses

• Cabbage looper

• Tomato hornworm

Nematodes and cutworms

• Nematodes

• Invisible ...

• Plants get droopy and do not recover when waterered

• Cutworm and leatherjackets- chop off plants overnight

At your command

• Beneficial insects

• Birds

• Plants

• Create space for them

• Water

• Hedges

• Interplanting flowers

Beetles, bugs and stinkers

• True bugs- ambush bugs

• Beetles

• Stinkers

Damsels, dragons and lacewings

• Damselfly

• Dragonfly

• Green and brown lacewing

Hovers, robbers and tachinids

• Hover fly

• Robber fly

• Tachinid fly –looks like

• bristly housefly

Spiders and wasps

• Chalcid & braconid & tachinid wasps

Crab spider

Orb and wolf spiders

4 footed friends and others

• Bats

• Lizards and salamanders

• Toads and frogs

• Moles

• Dogs – believe it or not!

BEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZ!

• More than 30 % of our food is dependent on bee + bug pollination

• Honey bees –colonial

• Bumble bees

• Solitary bees eg orchard bees

• Water, food, nests

Bee /butterfly friendly plants

• Bees

• Borage

• Catnip

• Heather/ling

• Lavender

• Crab apples

• Old roses

• Lupins

• Black eyed Susan

• Butterflies

• Joe Pye weed

• Asters

• Butterfly weed -asclepia

• Buddleia

• Strawberries

• Zinnia

• Golden rod!

• Cosmos& Clover

Winged friends

• Top 5 in NB

• Chickadee

• Nighthawk

• Woodpeckers

• Nuthatch

• Native sparrows

• (+ Vireo, phoebe,

• swallows )

Companion planting –myth or real ?

• Companion crops “lend a hand” – e g shade, climbing frames

• Use nutrients efficiently –intercropping

• Prevent pest problems – as catch crops or repellents

• Attract beneficial insects

• This is NOT ENOUGH – soil improvement, beneficials and NO pesticides

Plant friends – companions

• Spring flowering

• Chives

• Heather and ling

• English daisies

• Pinks

• Rock cress

• Early ( rugosa ) roses

Companions – summer

• Lavender

• Black eyed Susan

• Coreopsis

• Cranesbill

• Helianthus

• Nasturtium

• Shasta daisy

• Tansy &Yarrow

Companions – fall

• Asters

• Boltonia

• Coneflowers

• Chrysanthemums

• Golden rod

• Joe Pye weeds

Herbs

• Borage

• Dill

• Fennel

• Mint

• Basil

Moulds and mildews

Botrytis & Rust

scab

Avoiding mildews and fungi

• Space plants correctly

• Wind and sun

• Water correctly

• Soil must be well fed

• Trace elements

• Buy healthy plants

Fungicide – home made

• Leek spray

• Blend 2-3 leeks with 4 pints water in a blender

• Leave for 2-3 days to steep

• Strain juice through filter paper

• Contains sulfur, general fungicide

• Powdery mildew spray

• 1tsp baking soda

• 2 tsp horticultural oil

• ( or veg oil)

• mix in 4 cups water

• Spray after rain or every7-10 days

• For mildew, black spot, rust

Pesticide – home made

General purpose pesticide :

1 bulb garlic ,1 small onion

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• Put garlic and onion in a blender/ mixer and pulverise. Mix in cayenne pepper and steep in 1 litre water for 1 hour . Drain and sieve . Add 1 Tablespoon dish soap + spray on all pesky insects.

• Keep refrigerated .

Next sessions

• Workshop 3 – Succession and Interplanting – get the most produce from a small area, and disease resistance

• Workshop 4- Out in the garden – soil, manure, composts and teas , mulches , watering and weeding and harvesting

• March 31st – Processing and Storing food

• ( part of Food Forum at Renaissance College )

Good references

• Rodale website

• Great garden companions – Sally Jean Cunningham – Rodale press

• http://www.companionplanting.net/

Contact details

Alison Juta Waterborough Farm Waterboroughfarm@gmail.com Phone : 506-362 1005 after 7.00 pm