Hired guns for the garden

Hired guns
Originally uploaded by Crocheting_in_Georgia

I was excited to read this newspaper article in the Valdosta Daily Times talking about beneficial bugs for the garden. It states that if you can't raise your own beneficial bugs,you rent some until the pests crisis is over.

Here in South Georgia, especially, we have all sorts of bugs since many seem to thrive in this hot and humid climate. In spite of all the rain we've been having, I'm glad to see not as many mosquitoes this year like I had feared. What I do notice, however, is a large dragonfly population, dancing and looking quite content with life.

This newspaper article, written by Dean Fosdick, states that "many bug species are hired guns, available from mail-order suppliers or nurseries for combating short, but fierce, pest outbreaks on chemical-free properties." I'm happy to read about an overall concern for chemicals and overly used pesticides. I think it would serve us well to think twice when reaching for the insecticide by trying to find alternative ways to keep bug free.

I'm especially glad to see this article because it indicates that people are aware and concerned about the overuse of chemicals and that we all need to cut back in order to keep our environment healthy, which will undoubtedly benefit our disappearing hone bees as well.