Whether you garden year-round or only in the summer, it pays to know
which bugs are good and which are bummers. With bugs there are the good, the bad and the annoying. In the good category are ladybugs -- cute little beetles that eat hundreds of aphids, whiteflies and mealybugs every day. Nonpoisonous spiders are good, too, doing about 80 percent of your garden's natural pest control. Dragonflies eat up to 300 insects a day, while butterflies and bumblebees pollinate plants. Earthworms improve the soil. Bad bugs include: whiteflies, capable of wiping out a bed of roses; aphids that munch on fresh green growth; garden slugs; snails; and poisonous spiders that bite. Most annoying are June bugs, wasps, moths and the ever-present trail of ants. However, the most annoying of all, and certainly bad, are mosquitoes that breed in stagnant standing water. And that's the On The House Tip for today.