How you can keep wasps away from your garden
Don't let wasps ruin your outside time. Try these simple tricks to keep them away all summer.
problem solved
Last autumn I heard the birds over us when cleaning up garden and was surprised that three bare Eagles hovered directly above me.
I watched as they climbed into a field next to my house. Later I found in a web search for Lake Weißkopfesadlers that it was rarely together that three fly together. I also did not know that white -headed eagles had such a soft -sounding call as to what my attention put on them.
At the beginning of this year, when I thought about the coming garden season, I thought of these Eagles and other amazing things that I saw outdoors to enjoy my gardens.
A very large wasp with orange wings landed next to me. I turned around a stone edge and had just covered a hole in the floor near one of the stones. This wasp was wearing a cicade. It went to the area that I just covered, restored the opening and withdrawn directly into this hole. I had never heard of a cicada killer, but I saw that that day.
In the same summer I had a pet that Mantis prayed in my garden. I saw it practically every day and hang around in the same area. One day I caught eating it. In autumn I found that the prayer of Mantis on the base of a potential shrub goes down. It put its egg sac, the light white, newly created, was not even dry.
Last year I was fascinated by Libelle. They seemed to be dressed by the jumping stones that I put in a new garden. They are amazing insects – extremely fast, great hunters and very agile. In the afternoon I saw an owl around two owls to go to the ground to kill and eat a little snake. In October 2023 I saw a few Bobcat kits on the edge of my property. This was another rare sighting. I suspect that a Bobcat family has decimated the squirrel population in our area this year.
All of these wonderful things that occur in nature are reminiscent of the variety of our natural ecosystem, plants and animals, depending on the survival. As a gardener, we naturally take care of the balance of nature. Ecosystems can be as small as their own back yard, and many of us can have positive effects on our environment. We want advantageous insects and pollinators in our gardens, which is why we have to protect and provide areas for the habitat for wild animals.
The main pollinators in our region are bees, butterflies, beetles, moths, flies and hummingbirds, polluting fruit, vegetables and flowers. Plants need pollinators to reproduce, and since we need plants, we also need pollinators.
The majority of insects are considered beneficial or harmless. Of course, these are those we want to hold around. Insects can disperse seeds. They are food for birds and fish. Some insects raise and improve the soil quality. Some are predators and will consume other insects that are considered pests.
Insects play an important role in nature that are not always obvious to us. For this reason, we don't just want to rely on the use of chemicals to control pests. Pesticides, in particular “broad spectrum” products, can harm more than your intended goal, especially if you have an improper effect on the useful insects that we would like to receive.
By selecting the local plants for our gardens, advantageous garden insects supports and local birds attract. Local plants are of course in our region that exist here before European colonization. They developed with the animals in our region and developed essential relationships. Certain caterpillars are limited to a single types of host plants for their food. For example, Monarch Caterpillar larvae only eats local wolf milk. Some local bees only collect pollen from a flower type. Without these local host plants, the butterflies and bees could not survive.
Local flowering perennials are the best source for nectar for pollinators, since hybrids and varieties have less nectar and pollen production. Local shrubs and trees provide berries for birds and protective cover. Many local plants are beautiful landscape samples.
If you expect your local plants with a certain damage to your local plants, you should expect your local plants when adding local plants if you have reached the goal of attracting more insects to your property. Also make sure that you are looking for gerads of locals. It is best to look for the scientific binomial name so that you have no variety.
Do not remove plants from the wilderness! There are now several kindergartens and providers in which you can buy local plants. The wild organization of Western Pennsylvania has put together a list of local kindergartens in West Pennsylvania that sell local plants under Western Pa.
Loss of habitats, murderers, pollution and invasive species are threats to native plants. Invasive plants come from our region. They were either accidentally or deliberately brought here and unfortunately caused environmental damage. These plants grow quickly and pushing local plants. Invasive have no natural enemies here that would normally help to control them in their local habitats. They take over the habitats of local plants, which leads to a decline or endangerment of our local plant populations.
The decline in the number of native birds and insects correlates directly with the decline in the local plants. We can help by avoiding the use of invasive plants in our landscapes. To identify invasive plants, you will find a DCNR-Invasive factory sheet at “Additional resources” at https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/conservation/wild-plants/invasive plants.html.
If you find that you have an invasive system in your landscape, replace this system with a comparable local plant that fits just as well. Kindergartens are forbidden to sell certain invasive plants, but remember that plants that have been sold outside of our state may be able to sell plants that have been identified as invasive in Pennsylvania, since this state may not yet be considered an invasive.
For example, I thought I wanted a double file Viburnum in my landscape, but found that it was now identified as an invasive in Pennsylvania. So always check the PA list before buying new plants.
You can keep a healthy local ecosystem on your property by restricting or eliminating the use of pesticides, which decides to decide plants based on the support of our local insects and birds, and to identify and exterminate invasive plants. In order to learn more about how to take practical steps towards a sustainable local landscape, join Beaver County's Master Gardeners on Saturday, August 2, to get the final class for environmental field studies. Visit Bit.ly/efs-Beavercounty to learn more and register.
Connie Peloza is a gardener in Penn State Master in Beaver County.