{"id":574,"date":"2018-07-09T10:18:05","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T09:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/?p=574"},"modified":"2025-07-29T13:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:12:02","slug":"the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Important Role Insects Play in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As gardeners, you create a mini eco-climate in your back garden but to do so, it needs to be a balanced environment.<\/p>\n<p>And this means encouraging all of the\u00a0wildlife into the garden, insects included. But for too long we have assumed that all insects are bad for the garden.<\/p>\n<p>Greenflies much away at the roses, whiteflies gorge on cabbages and a myriad of other tiny insects wreak havoc across the allotment, the orchard and the flowers.<\/p>\n<p>However, some of these insects are beneficial. But why?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Beneficial insects<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are good points and bad points of welcoming some insects into your garden;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hoverflies<\/strong>, for example, may enjoy feasting on apples on the tree but they are important pollinators.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dragonflies<\/strong> are attracted to where water is. So adding a pond to your garden is a good move because they feast on other insects, namely gnats and mosquitoes, a pesky insect that can enjoy hotter months in the UK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spiders<\/strong> may send a shiver down your spine but they are essential for the health of your garden, keeping it in balance by eating flies and larvae.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gall mites<\/strong> are microscopic that you won\u2019t know you have them in your fuchsias until their numbers reach epidemic proportions.<\/p>\n<p>There are many other insects that help to keep the garden in balance too \u2013 just take a look at our fabulous infographic for more information.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Getting the balance right<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It may seem counterintuitive but encouraging insects into the garden could be the very thing you need to do to grow better blooms, veggies and fruit.<\/p>\n<p>This is because insects attract garden birds too and certain types of pollen-rich plants are perfect for bees, an insect under pressure from declining habitats and disease.<\/p>\n<p>But they can soon become a problem if their numbers are tipped out of balance. The Lady Bird is seen as the gardeners friend but back in the summer of 1976, the lady bug population exploded that they were anything but for those long, hot summer months.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing pesticide and insecticide use, and using natural remedies instead if you need to, is also part of the equation for balancing the eco-climate of your garden. We have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/wooden-benches\">beautiful range of wooden garden seats<\/a> which you could utilise in your back garden whilst observing nature at its finest.<\/p>\n<p>Find out more here!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-575 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/What-Role-Do-Insects-Play-In-The-Garden-min.jpg\" alt=\"What Role Do Insects Play In The Garden\" width=\"751\" height=\"11473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/What-Role-Do-Insects-Play-In-The-Garden-min.jpg 751w, https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/What-Role-Do-Insects-Play-In-The-Garden-min-67x1024.jpg 67w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As gardeners, you create a mini eco-climate in your back garden but to do so, it needs to be a balanced environment. And this means encouraging all of the\u00a0wildlife into the garden, insects included. But for too long we have assumed that all insects are bad for the garden. Greenflies much away at the roses, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gardening-tips","category-sustainability"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/insects-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Anna Sharples","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/author\/anna\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Important Role Insects Play in the Garden<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Insects play a key role in garden health. 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Learn how pollinators and helpful bugs support biodiversity and help your plants thrive naturally.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Garden Benches Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GardenBenchesCom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-09T09:18:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-29T12:12:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/insects-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"833\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Sharples\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Garden__Benches\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Garden__Benches\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Sharples\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Sharples\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/95d23ea56892f649f8a026971a018a57\"},\"headline\":\"The Important Role Insects Play in the Garden\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-09T09:18:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-29T12:12:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/\"},\"wordCount\":395,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/insects-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Gardening Tips\",\"Sustainability\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/\",\"name\":\"The Important Role Insects Play in the Garden\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/the-important-role-insects-play-in-the-garden\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/insects-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-09T09:18:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-29T12:12:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Insects play a key role in garden health. 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