Ha ! you looked anyway and now you're shuddering at the thought of it sitting on your shoulder desperately trying to make it's way into your ear to burrow and nest and whisper !!
But whatever you do, do not kill it. Here is one of the gardeners seldom seen allies, the ground beetle larva. There are more than 2500 species of ground beetle and they will prey on : slugs, snails, cutworms, cabbage root maggots and most other soil dwelling pests. A single larvae may eat up to fifty caterpillars, how many did you catch this year ? Adults can live up to three years and are a voracious predator .... a bit like me. Well when it comes to chocolate that is.
So how can I get one I hear you cry. Well I'm spoken for but these ground beetles love perennial beds which provide cover, also ground cover planting is a great encouragement and stone pathways give some pretty nifty hiding places. So a friend indeed is a friend we need and I damn nearly squashed him when clearing out the earlies bed !! Phew, it's murder in the garden these days !
Thanks for the info,I automatically step on anything that crawls!I will look out for these babies now. We have had no caterpillers as yet this year, lots of cabbage whites flying around but so far we seem to have escaped (says she making a mental note to check thoroughly tomorrow)!
ReplyDeleteJesus!, Peggy thats you off the potential babysitters list anyway ..... automatically stepping on anything that crawls!!
ReplyDeletewe think alike, sorry. I thought I'd share my new blog, it's called The garden grows the gardener. http://michaelgrow.wordpress.com/feed
ReplyDeleteI've heard that 90% of insects in the garden are beneficial...I presume that's 90% of species because I have about 3 billion ants in my garden!
ReplyDeleteIt would take a mighty big ground beetle to eat up the big ol' Oregon slugs in my garden! Why is it for every plant you want to grow there is a critter that loves to eat it, and yet the weeds stand tall and free of pests?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your appreciation! I feel very strongly about the plight of our native bees and hope that this blog will help people identify them and want to help save them by growing nectar-rich plants in their gardens.
ReplyDeleteGarden centre Suffolk