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You might want to step on them or even swat them, but there is a flip side to some creepy crawlies. MOHAU MOKOENA fills us in on the benefits of a bug's life and why environmentally responsible gardeners should stay clear of pesticides.

DOESN’T it bug you that you share your home with creatures that don’t help pay the bond?

Especially if you didn’t grow up on a farm, sharing your living space with creepy crawlies can mean a life of misery.

But keeping them around can be beneficial for us and the ecosystem. Only pests don’t contribute anything to our general wellbeing.

Everyone knows bees make honey and that it’s good for you, but they can unleash a nasty and sometimes fatal sting.

Beeswax is also used in candles and in many cosmetics.

Ladybirds are useful too as they feed on garden pests like aphids.

“Aphids are really not good for garden plants. Unfortunately people insist on using chemicals to get rid of pests in their garden, but these chemicals also harm the good bugs,” says Tina Atties from the Garden Shop in Bryanston, northern Johannesburg.

She encourages gardeners to buy wildlife-attracting products.

“Things such as pebbles, stepping stones and mulch attract many good bugs into the garden and this has great benefits. They need to be protected.”

Agricultural scientist Johan Gerber says that: “Hopefully the day will come in the not-too-distant future when gardeners will be able to ask for a dozen ladybird or parasitic wasp pupae at their local garden centres.”

Gerber, author of The Garden Guardian’s guide to environmentally responsible garden care , says we can go a long way in preserving beneficial insects.

“Our parents sowed the seed in us from an early age to kill everything that moves – anything with six to eight legs.

“Television advertisements also add to aerosol trigger-happy consumers. We need to educate households, especially when it comes to the use of poisons or rather hazardous pesticides indoors and in the garden.”

Although beautiful insects like butterflies are said to have aesthetic value, bugs like spiders, wasps and crickets trigger the “killing” instinct in many people.

But spiders can be beneficial too. They feed on many garden pests.

They use their webs to catch moths, flies, mosquitoes, ants and gnats.

Gerber says: “There are many ways of looking at bugs in our homes. Quite often certain pests only occur at a certain time of the year and if conditions become unfavourable they eventually disappear.

Too wet or too dry conditions contribute to certain pest populations increasing or decreasing.

“The main thing people need to understand is that if your kitchen is left untidy with dirty dishes for days you will experience cockroaches.

If your home is dusty and the carpet never gets cleaned you will have flea problems, especially with pets that are not well cared for.”

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