Question
I would like to plant a small kitchen garden and wish to know how best to feed it without the application of bone/blood meal or other animal derived methods.  Also, are there non-lethal ways of keeping bugs away such as other plants to distract them or plants to attract predatory insects?

Answer
Good question.  Let me see if I understand you correctly.

You don't want to use any animal derived fertilizer or soil amendment -  No Fish Emulsion, no Bone Meal, no Blood Meal.  You don't want to use traps or nontoxic pesticides to kill anything, but you do not object to a predatory insect doing what Nature has programmed it to do.  Correct?

I hope you don't object to the purchase of predatory insects, because Ladybugs and Praying Mantids are the greatest thing when it comes to bad bug population control.

Since Organic Gardening is becoming more popular, it is easier to go out and buy these.  Attracting them is likely to be only a fantasy.  There are so many pesticides out there, I just don't think there are any bugs to 'attract'.

Keeping them in your garden is also difficult once the bad bugs have been devoured.  These bugs have needs beyond their diet; if you meet them, you increase the odds they will stay at your house.  Scott's Beneficial Insect Page (http://habitat.ms11.net/bee/beneficial.htm) website posts a Beneficial Biota Information section and lists among other things plants that he says will draw the right kinds of bugs to your Vegetable Garden.

The Garden Insects website (http://www.gardeninsects.com/ladybugs.asp) posts an entire essay, 'Natural Pest Control With Ladybugs', pointing out that Ladybug larvae and adults are predatory insects whose diet mainly consists of Aphids.

BestNest.com, a retailer of bird and friendly insect equipment (http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/attract_ladybugs.asp), points out that Ladybugs need a place to spend the winter: 'Ladybugs generally spend winters in protected hiding places such as logs, buildings, under rocks, or ground cover where many ladybugs will hibernate together.'

That's where you come in: 'Ladybug houses serve as safe havens during the winter months and provide a place for ladybugs to lay their eggs and go through metamorphosis.'

Flowers that attract Ladybugs are usually described as umbrella-shaped.  Favored plants include White Cosmos, Scented Geraniums, Fennel, Dill, Cilantro, Caraway, Angelica, Tansy, Coreopsis, Wild Carrot and Yarrow.  BestNest recommends sprayings of 'Wheast', described as 'a combination of whey and yeast,' to attract ladybugs.  GardenInsects says that 'pollen and nectar are necessary for maturation of newly emerged lady bug adults, particularly before a winter hibernation season.  Adults can survive on pollen and nectar for limited periods, but a supply of aphids or other prey is necessary for egg production.'

Praying Mantids/Mantises eat many good beneficials, so they should not be released when you are also releasing other insects, to keep the Mantids from leaving.

Notes Garden Insects com; 'Mantis have enormous appetites, eating various aphids, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects when young. Later they will eat larger insects, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, and other pest insects.'  Student researcher Michelle Doughty adds in her paper on this subject (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web1/mdoughty.html): 'The mantis has an enormous appetite, eating up to sixteen crickets a day.'

You can buy beneficials locally if you look around your neighborhood garden center.  There's always GardensAlive.com (http://www.gardensalive.com), Integrated (http://www.goodbug-shop.com/beneficialnematodes.htm?8c42adb0), or Buglogical (http://www.buglogical.com/index.asp).

BestNest posts lots of information on Bird-attracting birdbaths and birdfeeders.  Birds are a Gardener's Best Friend, so long as you're able to keep them from devouring your vegetables and seedlings.  They devour huge numbers of insects.  Water features in the garden also attract beneficial insects.

Tell me please that I don't need to warn you against the use of Manures in your vegetable garden.

Finally, let me say it again: NO plant will ever perform better than its DNA program.  People tend to forget that.  Fertilizer can only bring out the best in any plant.  You can't grow 50-lb. Tomatoes no matter how much Miracle Gro you use if those Tomatoes don't have the genetic potential -- and it's likely they'll get that big if you're using mineral-rich, organic-based soil.  Unlike the soil for Lawns, soil for Vegetables can be rotated to grow different crops each year; nutrient depletion can be minimized.

Your best plant of action is to get a soil sample over to your local Cooperative Extension and get their expert analysis of what you have now.  The strangest things come up in those soil tests.  You need to know that if you're growing vegetables.

I could go on.  But this is my usual way too long reply already, so I better stop.  If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.