Free

Some things are free and some things are free. That is not exactly a redundant statement because there are two complementary meanings of “free.”

Both meanings of free are relevant to gardening and computing. Free as in “free of cost” is one meaning; the other is free as in liberty. Open pollinated heirloom seeds are free as in liberty; there is no ownership of the genetics. You can grow these seeds and save your seed from year to year. Try that with “licensed” seed from a big ag company and you may be paying legal bills forever. Open source software is also “liberated” because you can use and modify it to meet your needs. Try that with software from Some Big Company and you will, potentially, have big legal bills.

We hear, frequently, “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.” That may be true about lunch but high-quality software can be, and often is, free as in “free lunch.” Most open source software is free of cost, and because it is open source, it is, by definition, free in the liberated sense – often referred to as “free as in speech.”

There are still a few seed companies that have not been gobbled up by big ag and these companies still sell open pollinated seed. Free as in “free lunch” seeds are available from some seed savers; trading of seed is encouraged.

These ideas and some links will be in a future post.

Good Plants for Good Bugs

In order to support your collection of beneficial insects in your garden you have to provide them with habitat and, for the adults that need nectar and pollen, a food source. Since many of the wasps and flies are small you want plants whose flowers are small but abundant.

The Apiaceae, a large family that includes carrots, dill, fennel, Queen Anne's lace, parsnips and many others, has large flower heads composed of many very small flowers. Most of the predatory wasps and flies will be attracted to these plants as they are rich sources of nectar with nice places to land. It is a large family of plants with over 3000 species. 

The Asteracea (formerly the Compositae) is the largest family of flowering plants. It includes sunflowers, thistles, lettuce, chamomile, tarragon and many others. These plants provide pollen and nectar for beneficial insects. The yellow flower in the picture below is very common here in the Rio Grande Valley; it is frequented by many small insects.

 

The Allium family, including edible garlic and onions, provides a lot of goodness for the good insects. The large purplish flower in the picture is elephant garlic. It is usually covered with butterflies, little wasps and flies but there was too much wind today. Honey bees also like these flowers if here is nothing else blooming. The while allium is an onion. 


The mint family, Lamiaceae or Labiatae, includes many of our culinary herbs and beneficial insects love these plants; the flowers are small and very rich in nectar. You will encourage syrphid flies, tachinid flies and big-eyed bugs. Our sage is still blooming, its purple flowers attract many bees when it is not windy. 


This is a start on insectary plants. I will cover more good plants for good bugs in another post. The pictures in this post were taken in our garden.