When my garden veggies start coming up and look good enough to eat, thats about the time that the annoying insects start buzzing and burrowing around. It starts out with small holes in the leaves or fruit, and pretty soon an entire garden is infested. There are many varieties out there, whether theyare general garden pests or specific to certain types. The one unifying truth is they are a pain in the posterior and can be difficult to get rid of. Here are some of the more common garden pests out there.

Ants

These little buggers are common both inside and outside the home. There are many different varieties and they come in almost every shape, size and color. In the home, they are an annoyance and unsightly. No one likes to look down and see a little, or big,ant scurrying away with a piece of last nights dinner.

In the garden, they can be devastating. While ants arenot so big on eating the leaves, their tunnels and homes can ruin the roots of many plants. They also feed on the natural predators of other nuisance bugs, creating a second problem by allowing the nuisance population to get out of control. You can take care of ants using a variety of natural and chemical pesticides.

Earwigs

We have all heard the stories growing up of earwigs crawling in your ear and laying their eggs. Its no surprise that when Khan placed a mind control bug in Chekhov from Star Trek, it reminded me of the earwig. Earwigs are big, nasty, ugly bugs that naturally give you the creeps. Seeing them in your garden can be both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is they have a tendency to eat other nuisance bugs and larvae, and also eat decaying plant matter. The curse is they also like eating flowers and occasionally small fruit. No one wants to bite into an orange and see half of one of these ugly suckers staring back at them. If they arent too much of a problem, leave them alone. If they become a nuisance, remove and replace your compost or wet mulch as these are perfect breeding grounds for earwigs.

These are only a couple of the many bugs that can become a nightmare in the garden, but dont worry. Over the next several weeks, I will dedicate my Friday column to identifying some of the more interesting and colorful pests. Stay tuned for next week, we will be taking on the worms.

Image Credit: flickr.com/photos/krayker/2805137801/