Many folks are squeamish around insects. Yes, I have been known to let out a little scream and jump when a cricket or a wolf spider jumps at me, much to the amusement of those who know me. In the gardening world, it seems that all insects are intent on ruining your garden. However, that is not the case. Our first instinct when confronted with lacy bean or squash leaves is to run to the garden or hardware store to buy an insecticide and douse the garden.However, RESIST that urge! Why? When you kill the insects with “bad” behaviors, you’re also killing the good insects … like beneficial insects such as the assassin bugs and praying—or preying!—mantid. Without beneficials, we’re leaving a huge vacuum for even more hungry insect pests to invade and feast on what’s left of your beans and squash. A number of insects are our allies and they have voracious appetites. Have you seen the size of a praying mantid or an assassin bug? I have been fortunate to provide homes to these and others in my home garden.
In short, when we create a garden, our intent, besides bountiful harvests, is the creation of an ecosystem. Within that ecosystem, each plant, animal, and insect has a role. Anything that we can do to contribute to increasing beneficial insect habitat will increase the services they provide in helping you maintain control over hungry insect pests.
Despite it being so late in the season, the time to start is now. Know what kinds of insect pests are attracted to your fruit and vegetable plants. Then familiarize yourself with the various methods to control those pests. Those methods might include cultural controls (good soil quality, crop rotations, or companion plantings), physical controls (studying the potential pests so you can recognize them, removing them by hand with a soapy dish of water in the morning when they’re sluggish, and finding and destroying eggs), biological controls (the topic of this post, such as creating habitat for beneficial insects so they can do the work) and as an absolute last resort, chemical controls—but only through a system of integrated pest management (IPM). 
Today I noticed a several clusters of squash bug eggs … so my task in the morning will be to remove them. That will mean less leaf damage later and fewer egg-laying adults in the future.
The bottom line: with some attention to your garden and a willingness to provide a more hands-on approach, you should not have to resort to pesticides. You’ll save money and enjoy organically-grown harvests.
To learn more about beneficial insects, check out these resources:
Ohio State University Extension
Purdue Extension's guide to insect pests and a few beneficials
--Angela Herrmann, a Master Gardener in Marion County, is just returning from a nine-week AgroEcology Summer Intensive 12-credit hour program at Goshen College.
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