i am dealing w/ a small insect problem in my garden too, though a different species of bugs.
it wouldn't hurt to pop some garlic cloves in the ground, i've done it and seen a smal decrease in the bugs....

Praying Mantids would be one part of your total pest control plan, not the only part. However, starting with them is good, much better then many others first option of reaching for some poison to spray. Creating an environment that hosts the predators is important and that means cool, moist places for snakes and toads as well as flowers for the predatory insects to feed on while waiting for their prey to appear.
If you do have a problem with cockroaches, they generally eat dead and decaying organic matter not living plants, spreading Boric Acid flakes around where they are living can help.

I've just come in from my garden, the specific reason I went out there today was to see what beneficial insects I could find. To my delight I found centipedes, ladybugs, braconid wasps, and dragonflies. I've had vey very little insect damage to my garden and now I guess I know why. No mantis yet though I'd welcome them. You can purchase braconid wasps much like mantis or ladybugs (included a link as many people seem unfamiliar)

Here is a link that might be useful: Braconid wasps

Three cheers for trap crops!

In a natural environment, you have a great mixture of plant species, and you have a good mix of both good and harmful bugs. In a cultivated garden, you have a very limited number of plant species, which is like a magnet to their natural pests. That's why gardens become infested with certain types of the bad guys.
Predatory insects are wonderful to a point. What many people don't realize is that they only stick around as long as they have something to prey upon. Once the insect population is greatly reduced or eliminated, the leave for a better hunting ground. You can spend big bucks adding "good bugs" to your garden when you don't have an infestation, only to have them fly over to your neighbors yard for dinner and a new home.
In a cultivated garden, predatory insects are rarely enough to control an infestation of harmful insects.

Ron
The Garden Guy
** See Below
Informative articles, ongoing garden journal &
interactive garden forum!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

If you work at creating an environment that is attractive to the beneficial and predatory insects, flowers as well as vegetables, intercropping (mixing flowers and vegetables), and other good, sound organic methods the beneficials will find other food sources that will keep them around when the supply of target insects (pests) is not sufficient to keep them around.
Organic gardening/farming is much more than just "not using chemicals" it is understanding the environment and creating one that is balanced.

Ron, my gardens are cultivated and planted with a wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals, and vegetables.

The predatory and parasitic insect population teems in my gardens, keeping the pest problems under firm control. Do I have aphids? Yes. Are they affecting the vigor or appearance of my plants? No.

Do I have caterpillars and leaf eating beetles? Yes. Are they in such numbers that they affect the vigor or appearance of my plants? No.

It is VERY possible to achieve a balance of pests and beneficials, even in cultivated landscapes and vegetable gardens.

The exceptions would be monoculture or the use of plants with known predispositions to a certain pest. I carefully avoid both of those situations.

rhizo_1 ,
Your garden plan is the exception rather than the rule. Most small scale vegetable gardens focus on a very limited number of plant types that attract harmful insects specific to them. The average backyard garden does not contain 'wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals'!
kimmsr - That is pure nonesense! If the predatory insects run out of harmful insects to feed on, what are these 'other food sources' that you say they turn to? Other beneficials? The fact is, the move on to where their natural food source can be found in abundance. That is fact and not a daydream!
Unless you can actually create a balanced environment with 'wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals, and vegetables', as rhizo_1 say's he has, you will never hold predatory insects and achieve a good balance between beneficials and harmful bugs. The vast majority of small scale vegetable gardeners do not or can not maintain such a balanced environment for any number of reasons, including location, space, financies, etc. What you are talking about works in theory, but in the real world, it is far from the norm!
I rarely have an insect problem and do not lose crops to infestation. On the rare occasion when harmfuls get out of control and other measures do not work effectively, I have no problem using organic insecticides on a very limited basis to even the playing field, just as organic farmers all over the country do every day.

Ron
The Garden Guy
** See Below
Informative articles, ongoing garden journal &
interactive garden forum!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

rhizo_1 ,
Your garden plan is the exception rather than the rule. Most small scale vegetable gardens focus on a very limited number of plant types that attract harmful insects specific to them. The average backyard garden does not contain 'wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals'!
kimmsr - That is pure nonesense! If the predatory insects run out of harmful insects to feed on, what are these 'other food sources' that you say they turn to? Other beneficials? The fact is, the move on to where their natural food source can be found in abundance. That is fact and not a daydream!
Unless you can actually create a balanced environment with 'wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals, and vegetables', as rhizo_1 say's he has, you will never hold predatory insects and achieve a good balance between beneficials and harmful bugs. The vast majority of small scale vegetable gardeners do not or can not maintain such a balanced environment for any number of reasons, including location, space, financies, etc. What you are talking about works in theory, but in the real world, it is far from the norm!
I rarely have an insect problem and do not lose crops to infestation. On the rare occasion when harmfuls get out of control and other measures do not work effectively, I have no problem using organic insecticides on a very limited basis to even the playing field, just as organic farmers all over the country do every day.

Ron
The Garden Guy
** See Below
Informative articles, ongoing garden journal &
interactive garden forum!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

Wow, didn't know I had such an "exceptional" garden. I regularly have a good mix of bugs, spiders and toads and have never had to resort to using poison despite all the dire warnings from neighbors. My mantids pretty much find a place and remain on the same plants throughout the season so it's always a happy time when I begin seeing them as babies.
Ron, not trying to start a spat but common sense tells me that it is far easier to maintain healthy gardening conditions that to maintain those some conditions when farming in a monoculture design. Equating gardening conditions and farming conditions is a common misconception for those who have never actually farmed. Don't know if you've ever actually been a farmer but I assure you, it's a different kettle of fish!

Unless you can actually create a balanced environment with 'wide assortment of native and exotic annuals, perennials, woody ornamentals, and vegetables', as rhizo_1 say's he has, you will never hold predatory insects and achieve a good balance between beneficials and harmful bugs.

Unless we stop using absolutes like 'never', we'll never try anything and see. That is: hogwash.

Dan

digginfool,
To answer your question, I owned and ran an organic farm/homestead in upstate NY for over 10 years, and have gardened organically for over 45 years, so I have a pretty good handle on organic farming practices. I have also written many articles on organic gardening and homesteading that were published by nationaL magazines.
The vast majority of organic gardeners that i have known over the last 45 years had neither the space or means to create a completely balanced ecosystem in a limited backyard, if it's even possible. If you and a few other have, thats great, but it is not the norm.
I don't advocate the indescriminate use of organic insecticides; I only advocate them under conditions of infestation which can occur for a number of reasons, i.e. poor soil, unhealth plants, nearby infestation, etc.
My garden also has a good variety of good and bad bugs and I have not had an infestation for several years. Some years back, the entire neighborhood was infested with Jap. beetles, and the shear number of the overwelmed the beneficials. Let me ask you a question . . . would you have rather lost your entire crop or use an organic control?? I have no problem advocating the use of an organic insecticide under those kind of conditions.
There has to be room for reason and common sense in all things, including organic gardening. Many folks look at us organic gardeners as 'fanatics' because some see everything as an absolute! I can tell you first hand that no organic farmer would hesitiate to use an organic control to save a crop.

Ron

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog

Ron, I certainly agree whole-heartedly that the use of insecticides is common sense when the alternative is losing a harvest. But there is a vast difference in me as a kitchen gardener losing my pepper harvest and a farmer losing several acres of peppers. My nit-picking (yes, it is nit-picking I suppose) was with the easy way you equated gardening and farming. However, since you've done both, you obviously are aware of the differences in methodology.

This right here, "But there is a vast difference in me as a kitchen gardener losing my pepper harvest and a farmer losing several acres of peppers." is an excellent point to keep in mind.

Hey digginfool,
I think the only difference between organic gardening and farming is size! Farmers are just as concerned about producing chemical free food and building the soil and ecosystem as the gardener is.
The farmers use organic controls responsibly and safely as do most organic gardeners. It is the small minority that only see in absolutes and don't use common sense and reason that I have a problem with.
I don't claim to know it all and I learn new things every year, but I have been doing this for almost half a century and I have seem and experienced a lot. Some of the claims, advice and statements I see here on occasion, by a small number of folks, are so far from reality and fact that I want to cringe.

Ron
The Garden Guy
** See Below
Informative articles, ongoing garden journal &
interactive garden forum!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Guy Website & Blog