Subscribe to my YouTube Channel The Rusted Garden

Over 800 Garden Videos Designed to Quickly Present Information!



Selected Herbs for Creating a 3 B's Garden:
Beneficial Insects, Butterflies and Bees
We all know the importance of honey bees to our gardens and the world. We also know that herbs have countless culinary and medicinal uses. Did you know herbs can also be grown to attract the three B’s to your garden: Beneficial Insects, Butterflies and Bees? 

Tomatoes and peppers tend to self-pollinate but if you are growing cucumbers, squash, zucchini and melons, you definitely want the buzzing of bees and beneficial insects flying throughout your garden. Butterflies are attracted to many types of herbs and will use some of them as an integral part of their life cycle. Insects that eat insects will come to your garden, like ladybugs and hoverflies, and help take care of aphids and other unwanted visitors. Honey bees and bumble bees love the flowers from this mix of herbs.



I put together a package of 6 specific herbs that will easily fill a 100 square feet.  Plant a large area or several small areas and leave them to flower and reseed year after year. Just water them in for 10 days and forget them. Sure you can sneak in and collect a few leaves for yourself but these herbs are for the three B’s.

Cilantro or Coriander is one of the best herbs for beneficial insects. The fragrant white flowers are a favorite of some of the smallest pollinators around. The flowers grow in a manner that makes their 'food' easily accessible to bees, beneficial insects and butterflies. It is an annual that can take the cold and heavily reseeds.

Borage has bright blue star shaped flowers that are magnets for bees and other pollinators. They are full of nectar that the bees love and the flowers tend to bloom all season long. Borage is known as a honey plant and it is grown by many beekeepers near their apiaries. Even hummingbirds love it.

Anise is another herb the produces masses of small white flowers and bees love them. Anise oil is used to attract bees. The fragrance has been proven to be a highly attractive scent for drawing in pollinators.

Fennel is a preferred food source for butterflies. It is a delicacy for the Swallowtail. They will use the plant to host its eggs and you will see the life cycle of the butterfly. That is, you will see a lot of wildly colored caterpillars. Honey bees are also attracted to fennel and love their tiny yellow flowers. It has a wonderful anise licorice taste to its leaves and bulb. It is an annual in zones 3-9. It will reseed heavily.

Dill is very similar to fennel. It has white flowers that are loved by the 3 B’s. Dill and fennel have similar leaf structures which are favored by developing caterpillars that will turn into butterflies. Predatory insects like ladybugs are drawn to the flowers and leaf structure of  both dill and fennel. The gift of ladybugs is that they will take care of aphids in your garden. Dill is also a big favorite of hoverflies. Dill is an annual that will reseed heavily.

Hyssop produces masses of dark blue flowers on spires that bloom July through September. You can cut back spent flowers for more blooms. This is a favorite of bees. You will see bees crawling up and down the spike of beautifully colored flowers. The leaves have a mint licorice scent and it is a perennial in Zones 4-8.

The combination of these 6 herbs, planted in the corner of your garden, will bring in an army of beneficial predatory insects, honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds. The combined scents of the flowers and leaves will serve your garden well. Growing these herbs will provide a food source for honey bees, a home to the Swallowtail Caterpillars and a haven for all the good insects your gardens need. Hyssop is a perennial but will also seed heavily like the other five herbs. Your 3 B's garden will take care of itself year after year.

You can pick these herbs up as you find them in your travels or purchase them from me as a package that can be scattered throughout your garden. The seeds are quite distinctive and you can easily pick them out for you own personal needs too! The seed picture above holds the measure of seeds that come in the package which is approximately 1/2 ounce.

You can find this item and many more on my new Seed Shop and Garden Shop on Shopify at this link: The Rusted Garden Seed Shop.






A mix of Cilantro, Dill, Anise, Borage, Fennel,  an Hyssop. Approximately 1/2 ounce of herb seeds. No fillers!


Good Luck with Your Garden,
Gary (The Rusted Garden)

Join My New YouTube Channel Just for NEW Gardeners: My First Vegetable Garden

Join My FB VIDEO Page - :The Rusted Garden FB Videos

Join My FB DISCUSSION Group - :The Rusted Garden: All About Vegetable Gardening

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things About Tomatoes for 2015: Tips for Tomato Success!

Image
Ten Things About Tomatoes for 2015 (Revised) Tomato Thing One: Two Types of Tomatoes Determinate and Indeterminate: There are two types of tomato plants. A tomato plant is either a determinate plant or indeterminate plant. A determinate tomato grows to a set height and stops growing. The fruits mature all at once or relatively close in time and the plant dies shortly after the final fruits mature. This determinate type of tomato is great for getting the first round of tomatoes from your garden (as they mature quickly) and they do well in containers. You might be able to plant two rounds of determinate tomatoes in your gardening zone. You can often plant them in May and again in July. The indeterminate tomato continues to grow and grow until frost. It sets fruit throughout the season. Only frost or disease will stop an indeterminate tomato from producing. Think of it this way, a determinate tomato grows to a pre determin ed size. Indeteriminate tomatoes often need to be staked and prun...
Read more

Understanding Garden Nitrogen: Products, Organic vs. Synthetic, Use and Strategies

Image
Understanding Garden Nitrogen: Products, Organic vs. Synthetic, Use and Strategies Nitrogen is a macro-nutrient which means it is a main element all plants need to grow. Without it, you can't really have a thriving garden. The earth's atmosphere is made up of nearly 80% nitrogen but plants can't use nitrogen in that form. It must be fixed or transformed into a form the plants can absorb and use. Nitrogen can be changed biologically or chemically. Biological forms are often called organic nitrogen. Chemically processed nitrogen is often called synthetic. Ammonia is the basis for chemical fertilizers. Understanding Nitrogen Fertilizer - TRG 2014 I made this video to help you understand the different forms of nitrogen available for your garden. I use both organic and synthetic forms of fertilizers. I also use compost and nitrogen fixing legumes like beans, red clover and peas. I believe is in using garden fertilizers in and educated and purposeful way. My recommendation is you...
Read more

Three Part Series: Growing Cilantro, Basil, Parsley & Chives on a Kitchen Windowsill - Seed Starting

Image
Growing Cilantro, Basil, Parsley & Chives on a Kitchen Windowsill Part 1 of 3: Starting the Seeds Peat pellets are used for this project because they are going to spend most of their time sitting in water mixed with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer. The design of  a peat pellet is perfect for this. It allows room for root growth and it will allow roots to grow out of the medium and into the water. Cilantro, basil, parsley and chives were selected for this video because they don't mind wet roots and can do well in water. This is a 3 part video series I am doing. This video explains the basic concept of growing herbs in peat pellets and water and how to plant the seeds. The goal is not to grow full sized herbs on your kitchen windowsill but to grow many many leaves. The 1/2 strength nutrient solution will keep the plants happy. You do need a windowsill with at least 8 hours of full sun, if you are germinating them on the sill. If you start them under lights and get them to size, yo...
Read more