insects

At first glance, would you decide this garden visitor was a welcome guest or a must-be-banned interloper?

If you answered that this ladybug is a welcome garden guest, you're correct. Ladybugs are beneficial insects and are a huge help for keeping down aphid populations in your garden. Aphids? Those are some of the bad guys — they can destroy crops in a matter of days if they're not dealt with.

While the majority of insects that visit your garden are actually benign or even helpful, there are some nasty pests that you definitely don't want to host a garden party for.

When I'm unsure about an insect's merits, I head to Gardener's Supply's Pest and Disease Identification page. This helpful, easy-to-navigate, and eco-oriented garden pest locator helps you to identify plant diseases and garden pests, including the creepy crawlers on your potato plants, by image. I've used it to identify leafhoppers and learn how to deal with these tiny pests, and I'm sure I'll use it again soon. You can check it out here.

While I've had to deal with fleas in the past, our home had been happily flea-free for years — until this past Winter that is. Since the only thing I hate more than fleas is introducing nasty insecticides and toxic chemicals into my home, I tried a natural, DIY approach to dealing with them. Using methods such as vacuuming daily (and emptying the canister into an outdoor garbage can), spreading diatomaceous earth on carpets, and using herbal flea sprays worked all right for a while, but it was time-consuming and definitely not foolproof. Plus, the flea spray I used made our house smell like the most unappetizing pumpkin pie ever baked.

The bottom line is that I just didn't have the time to deal with fleas in a manner that the more eco, DIY method required, yet I didn't want to use flea bombs or sprays that could negatively affect the health of our dog or our family. I was stuck for a solution — that is, until I learned about Fleabusters. Fleabusters is an environmentally friendly company that uses the least toxic or non-toxic methods of eliminating fleas from your home and yard. Best of all, Fleabusters guarantees its service for a year. That's right: one treatment will remove fleas for a year.

Keep reading to learn more about Fleabusters!

DrSugar is in the house! And she's answering your health-related questions.

Dear DrSugar,
Mosquitoes love me. Aside from using repellent featuring DEET (the natural sprays don’t work for me at all), is there anything else I can do to make myself less attractive to hungry pests? I heard drinking white vinegar helps. Also, once bitten, what is the best way to calm down the itchy factor of the bites? I end up bruising myself from scratching so hard!
— Covered With Bites

I must admit, mosquitoes and bugs love me too! In fact, my husband says I must be made of "sweet meat" because bugs love to sink their teeth into me! I think this is a great question to discuss while it's still Summer, so read more

If the scent or the effects of chemical bug sprays worry you, why not go the natural way? Lavender is a wonderful natural bug repellent, and it smells fantastic, too. Try placing potted lavender and other herb plants near your doors to repel bugs from entering your home. When you're having a picnic or hosting an outdoor dinner party, set some bunches of dried lavender on your table to use as table décor and keep the insects away!

When the party is over, bring it up to your bedroom and place it on your nightstand: lavender is also known to improve sleep quality and promote relaxation.

I made the mistake of leaving my trash out when I went away for Memorial Day weekend and came home to find that a family of gnats had moved into my kitchen. Needless to say, I was not pleased. But thanks to a little trick of mine I was able to take the life of every last one of 'em by the following morning.

Simply take a plastic water bottle and cut off the top third or so of the bottle — just below the label will do. Then, pour a little wine (white or red) into the base. Next, invert the top portion of the bottle, cap off, into the bottle's base. The little insects will be attracted to the sweet wine, fly in, and be unable to escape. Jesus was onto something with his water and wine, I guess . . .

This is not a shocking bedroom discovery; the creature was ordered as a pet! Cornell graduate Summer Rayne Oakes majored in Environmental Science and Entomology — study of bugs — and spreads the world about earth-friendly living as an eco-model (and author) working exclusively with environmentally conscious companies. That's what I call putting her money where her mouth is, as she's also raised more than 200 exotic insects right in her home, from Blue Death Feigning Beetles to Assassin bugs. Scary stuff.

The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach seen here gets its name for a particular trademark sound — it exhales air through breathing holes, a unique trait among insects. Your imagination will have to work for that, as there are no sound effects with this post, but check out more pictures when you read more